Sunday in La Alberca: timber streets, portraits and the Peña de Francia.

The Sierra de Francia is an hour from Salamanca and fits into a Sunday if you do three things: La Alberca early, before everyone arrives; Mogarraz and its mountain lunch at midday; and the Peña de Francia in the afternoon, when the light drops over the campo charro. From Zamora or Cáceres it is a long but possible day, about two hours away.

The Day, Hour by Hour

9:00 · Departure. From Salamanca, about 75 km southwards via Vecinos and Tamames, entering the sierra at El Cabaco: a little over an hour.

10:15 · La Alberca. Park at the entrance to the village and walk in. Wander aimlessly through the streets of stone and timber framing, look at the dated lintels and reach the Plaza Mayor, with its arcades and the cross. At number 11 is the tourist office. If it coincides, you will see the pig of San Antón wandering the streets.

12:15 · Mogarraz. Ten minutes by car. It is the village of portraits: hundreds of faces of villagers painted on the façades. Walk it looking for faces, for an hour.

14:00 · Lunch at the Mirasierra. In the upper part of Mogarraz, with a dining room facing the sierra. Local cooking for more than forty years: patatas meneás, limón serrano and grilled meats. Book by phone, 923 418 144: at weekends it fills up, as its website warns.

16:15 · The Peña de Francia. Go back towards La Alberca and drive up the mountain road to the sanctuary, above 1,700 metres: a little under half an hour, the last stretch narrow. At the top, the church of the Virgin, the Blanca chapel over the cave where, according to tradition, the image appeared in 1434, and the view over the campo charro and Las Hurdes. Take a coat.

17:45 · Return. You drive down via El Cabaco and reach Salamanca around seven.

What to Order

At the Mirasierra, begin with the patatas meneás, with paprika and torreznos, and the limón serrano, which you will not see outside this sierra: lemon, orange, boiled egg and chorizo. Then Iberian pork cheeks or grilled meat. Before leaving La Alberca, buy turrón, perrunillas or cured meats at the shops on the square.

With Children and Dogs

The streets of La Alberca and Mogarraz are cobbled and sloping: a baby carrier is better than a pushchair. Children like looking for faces in Mogarraz and the La Alberca pig. With a dog, the streets and the Peña viewpoint yes, on a lead; ask at the restaurant whether it admits dogs.