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Jakob Markson (1859-1910) was a local sea captain and ship owner. His home is today a museum introducing a typical 19th century captain’s home with a storehouse, sauna, granary, barn, dwelling house and cart sheds. The storehouse is equipped with tools used for making sailing ships; the granary is full of old farming equipment. The dwelling house, having a veranda with fretwork windows, demonstrates the typical construction style of those days and a home organ dating back to 1891.
Reference: Livonia Maritima Project
The city walls of Avila were built in the 11th century to protect the citizens from the Moors. They have been well maintained throughout the centuries and are now a major tourist attraction as well as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Visitors can walk around about half of the length of the walls.
The layout of the city is an even quadrilateral with a perimeter of 2,516 m. Its walls, which consist in part of stones already used in earlier constructions, have an average thickness of 3 m. Access to the city is afforded by nine gates of different periods; twin 20 m high towers, linked by a semi-circular arch, flank the oldest ones, Puerta de San Vicente and Puerta del Alcázar.