Guisando

Natalia Fernández Fraile

Guisando is a municipality located in the province of Ávila (Castilla y León, Spain). I have passed most of my life in this pretty little village, so I can tell you lots of things about this peaceful place surrounded by mountains. Hope you enjoy the trip!
The thing I like the most is the environment. We have a Mediterranean climate with soft winters and warm summers. However, there is something that I cannot forget, the fresh air; there is nothing like the sensation of breathing the air of the mountains without any pollution in it. Another relevant aspect of this village is nature. The fauna and flora of Guisando is rich and varied. There are many different species. Furthermore, we have huge woods of pine trees and the so known mountain goat. Additionally, there is something that fascinates me, the crystal clear water of the streams and the river. We also have natural swimming pools where tourists enjoy and refresh themselves during the summer.
If you are tired of ready prepared food and you like to delight yourself with new flavours, you will probably love Guisando’s gastronomy. One of the advantages of living in a village is the homemade food; you can taste it in every restaurant of the village. Our specialities are the roasted kid or the trout with jam. Consequently, Guisando is a pleasure for the palate not only because of these plates, but for the mushrooms (like the níscalo), the cherries, the chestnuts, the typical desserts (like the so called flores de hierro) and, of course, the goat cheese.
What catches more my attention is Guisando’s folklore. I have not experienced all the customs and traditions that my village has yet, but I am familiar with some of them. My favourite one has to do with fashion. Not many years ago the people of Guisando had a characteristic type of clothing, the suit of serrana. Personally, I believe that these suits are authentic works of art inasmuch as they are embroidered by hand. Nowadays we usually wear these suits during some of our festivities. We also have a particular way of talking that includes some words, proverbs and songs which are only used in this village. If you want to know more about its traditions and customs, you should look up the book of Guisando or its page web www.guisando.net. For more information you can visit our museum for only one euro and the replica of the famous bulls of Guisando as well.
Like in other small villages, we all know each other since we were children and we spend a lot of time together. You are probably asking yourself: how can they have fun in Guisando? Well, I am going to give you the answer. I always organise trips with my friends, we usually go for a walk and later on we do a picnic with homemade food of course. It is nice to talk with them and save some sweet memories with the sound of swallows as our sound track. At summer we love to swim and sunbathe while we are playing some kind of game. What is more, on Saturdays we usually go out for partying by some of the pubs of Guisando to meet new people.
To conclude, I have just given my personal opinion about the village that saw me grow up. If you want to visit Guisando, you are cordially invited to appreciate the beauty of its landscape, the richness of its culture and meet their warm and friendly people. I would like to leave you with some words about Guisando that Camilo José Cela said: “Guisando is maybe one of the villages with the most beautiful sights of Spain.”