Cáceres

Cáceres, the provincial capital, is a prosperous agricultural town whose vibrant nightlife draws villagers from the surrounding pueblos every weekend. It's one of Spain's oldest cities. The Roman colony called Norba Caesarina was founded in 35 BC, but when the Moors took over in the 8th century, they named the city Quazris, which eventually morphed into the Spanish Cáceres. It has been prosperous ever since noble families helped Alfonso IX expel the Moors in 1229, and the pristine condition of the city's medieval and Renaissance quarter is the result of the families' continued occupancy of the palaces first erected in the 15th century.