Rihonor de Castilla is a town in Castilla y León with just over 100 inhabitants. Despite its small size, it can boast of being the only town in Spain with two time zones. How is it possible? Because, in reality, it belongs to two countries, Spain and Portugal. Rihonor de Castilla is a town where bilingualism is common since the residents speak both Spanish and Portuguese. The inhabitants also share a unique language, Rihonorés, a dialect derived from Leonese.
It is a very peculiar municipality. Rihonor de Castilla, which belongs to the Zamorano municipality of Pedralba de la Pradería (Zamora) forms a unit with the Portuguese town of Río Onor. Both towns are one, divided by an imaginary line.
Because part of the urban area belongs to Spain and part to Portugal, bilingualism is common among its little more than 100 inhabitants -some 75 Portuguese and just over 30 in the Spanish.
The inhabitants of Rihonor de Castilla refer to the part of Zamora as Pueblo de Arriva or Povo de Xima and to the part of Portugal as Pueblo de Abajo or Povo de Abaixo.
In the Modern Age, the town was integrated into the province of the Lands of the Count of Benavente. In 1833 the provinces as we know them today were restructured, and Rihonor de Castilla, still an independent municipality, became part of the province of Zamora.
In 1850 it was integrated into the term of Pedralba de la Pradería, where it remains to this day. Pedralba de la Pradería is a town located in the Sanabria region with a population of 200 inhabitants.
The main attraction of the only town in Spain with two time zones is the popular architecture. The houses maintain the architecture of yesteryear, with stone walls, slate roofs and wooden balconies.
Life in this small town is very quiet, and the residents only have to worry about adjusting the clock on both sides of the border, since in Portugal it is one hour less than in Spain.