About 25km west of Hervás, the ghost village of Granadilla is a beguiling reminder of how Extremadura's villages must have looked before the rush to modernisation. Founded by the Moors in the 10th century but abandoned in the 1960s when the nearby dam was built, the village's traditional architecture has been painstakingly restored as part of a government educational project.
You enter the village through the narrow Puerta de Villa, overlooked by the sturdy castle. From here, the cobblestone Calle Mayor climbs up to the delightfully rustic Plaza Mayor. Some buildings function as craft workshops or exhibition centres in summer; make sure also to walk your way along the top of the Almohad walls, with evocative views of village, lake and pinewoods.
