Cáceres Co-cathedral

Cáceres Co-cathedral tickets: which one to buy

Santa Maria is the principal church of the walled old town of Caceres, standing on the square just inside the main gate, and it charges a small admission that includes the tower. Take it: the climb is short and the view over the monumental quarter, a field of granite towers and storks' nests with nothing modern in sight, is the best in the city. The cathedral of the diocese is in Coria, which is why this one carries the co-cathedral title.

Walking tours of the old town begin on this square and explain the noble families whose towers surround it; the town is small and two hours covers it. Combined tickets for several of the aristocratic houses and the museum are sold at the tourist office. Caceres is an easy stop between Madrid and Portugal and deserves a night rather than an afternoon. Tickets are sold inside the west door and include a printed plan of the old town.

Visiting Cáceres Co-cathedral: what to see

The church was built mostly in the fifteenth century on older foundations, in a plain transitional style between Romanesque and Gothic, using the same grey granite as the palaces around it, which is why the square reads as a single piece of architecture. Three naves of almost equal height are carried on heavy piers, and the tower was added later at the north-west corner.

The great object inside is the retable behind the high altar, carved in cedar in the 1550s and left unpainted and ungilded, so the whole wall of figures and scenes stands in bare wood, unusual for Spain and far more legible than a gilded one. Chapels along the aisles hold the tombs of the families whose houses stand outside. A bronze figure of Saint Peter of Alcantara by the door has one foot polished bright by visitors rubbing it for luck. A stone pulpit of the sixteenth century stands against one of the piers and is carved with the evangelists.

Cáceres Co-cathedral opening hours and the best time to go

The old town is a stone bowl and holds heat; from June to September the middle of the day is uncomfortable and the best hours are early morning and after seven. Spring and autumn are ideal. Holy Week here is serious, with night processions through the walled quarter and the squares full for a week. The world music festival in May brings stages into the old town.

Storks nest on the towers from late winter and their clattering is the sound of the place. The church closes over lunch and the tower shuts in high wind. Evening floodlighting turns the granite gold and the square is at its best then. Allow half an hour inside plus the tower, and keep the rest of the walled town for the cool of the evening. The tower stair is narrow and one-way, so groups are let up in batches at busy times.