Ávila is the highest provincial capital in Spain, at more than eleven hundred metres, and the cold, clear air gives the whole city a sharp, medieval edge. Its granite walls, about two and a half kilometres around and punctuated by dozens of towers, are among the best preserved in Europe. Just outside them, the Royal Monastery of Santo Tomás is a different sort of monument: a Dominican house founded in the 1480s by the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, who used it as a summer retreat. It is also the burial place of Tomás de Torquemada, the notorious first Inquisitor General, and of Prince Juan, the monarchs' only son, who died young, and whose marble tomb is one of the finest Renaissance sculptures in Spain.
The monastery has three cloisters, and the quiet of them is something to savour after the traffic outside. The mix of Gothic and early Renaissance styles is clear in the stonework, with fine carved choir stalls inside the church.
Arriving by motorbike is straightforward. Ávila stands on a high plateau under the Sierra de Gredos, a granite range whose highest summit, Almanzor, exceeds two and a half thousand metres. The roads over the sierra, such as the old route over the Puerto del Pico, at around thirteen hundred metres, are among the best riding in central Spain, with a Roman road still visible at the pass. Down from the walls, the plain is open, wind-blown and pale gold in summer, with wide skies and few bends, though the weather can turn quickly. Winter brings frost and occasional snow, so check conditions and carry layers.
Fuel and food are easy in a city of nearly fifty-seven thousand people. Try the local chuletón, a huge T-bone steak, if you are hungry, or the yemas de Santa Teresa, sweet egg-yolk confections named after the city's most famous daughter, if you are only peckish. Parking near the walls is easiest outside the main gates, and the old town is pleasantly walkable. Tornadizos de Ávila and Cardeñosa, small villages on the plateau, are quiet but offer little in the way of services.