Conquistadors & Empire

Extremadura's sons who conquered the New World

Explore the homeland of Cortés, Pizarro, and the other conquistadors who left these remote Extremaduran villages to build the Spanish Empire. Their wealth transformed humble towns into Renaissance masterpieces.

Extremadura — the 'land beyond the Duero' — is Spain's emptiest and least-visited region, yet it shaped the modern world more profoundly than almost any other corner of Europe. From these remote, impoverished villages, a generation of men left for the Americas in the early 16th century and conquered two empires: Francisco Pizarro from Trujillo toppled the Incas; Hernán Cortés from Medellín destroyed the Aztecs; Vasco Núñez de Balboa from Jerez de los Caballeros became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean.

The wealth they sent back transformed their hometowns. Trujillo's plaza is ringed with Renaissance palaces built with Peruvian gold. Guadalupe's monastery — where Columbus brought his petition to Isabella — became one of the richest foundations in Christendom. Yet between these grand monuments, the landscape remains as the conquistadors knew it: vast oak dehesas where black Iberian pigs forage for acorns, lonely castles on every hilltop, and ghost villages like Granadilla, abandoned when a reservoir was planned but never filled.

This itinerary covers 12 stops across approximately 400 kilometres of Extremadura's rolling landscape. The driving is easy, the roads empty, the accommodation often in converted castles or monasteries, and the ham — jamón ibérico de bellota — is the best in the world. Nowhere else in Spain can you feel the profound connection between medieval poverty, imperial ambition, and the transformation of the entire Atlantic world.

Stops on this route

1. Trujillo Castle — Birthplace of Francisco Pizarro — the plaza below is Spain's finest Renaissance square
2. Montánchez Castle — Roman-Moorish hilltop fortress above the town that produces some of Spain's finest ham
3. Guadalupe — UNESCO Royal Monastery — where Columbus received royal support and Cervantes was baptized
4. Granadilla — Ghost medieval walled town — abandoned in the 1960s and frozen in time
5. Hervás — One of Spain's best-preserved Jewish quarters — narrow lanes of half-timbered houses
6. Garganta la Olla — Blue-marked houses near the Monastery of Yuste, where Charles V spent his final years
7. Coria Castle — 15th-century ducal fortress of the House of Alba — remarkably intact walls and keep
8. Alburquerque Castle — Luna Castle on the Portuguese border — named for the duke who was Fernando II's favorite
9. Medellín Castle — Birthplace of Hernán Cortés — the Colombian city of Medellín was named after this town
10. Feria Castle — Tallest tower in Extremadura — visible for miles across the flat landscape
11. Jerez de los Caballeros — Where the last Templars in Spain were executed — birthplace of Vasco Núñez de Balboa
12. Olivenza Castle — Portuguese-Spanish border fortress — the town changed hands between the two kingdoms repeatedly

Practical information

Extremadura has excellent, empty roads and very affordable accommodation. Many castles are free to visit. The region is famous for its cuisine: jamón ibérico, migas, torta del Casar cheese, and pimentón de la Vera (smoked paprika). Guadalupe's monastery requires a guided tour (available hourly). Granadilla is accessible only on foot from a car park — bring sturdy shoes. The dehesa landscape is at its most beautiful in spring when wildflowers carpet the ground.

Terrain: Rolling dehesa oak woodland → fertile river valleys → Sierra de Gredos foothills → granite hill towns