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Setenil de las Bodegas, 24 hours in a white village between rocks

2021-04-09T18:01:54.589Z


The Mudejar coffered ceiling of the tourist office, Calle de la Herrería flanked by cave houses, eating tracks and the most photographed site in this Cadiz village


Setenil de las Bodegas not only has a sonorous name, but this white town in the Sierra de Cádiz region is also one of the most beautiful in Spain, according to many of the tourists who until the covid put up the full poster every day in their charming accommodations.

Beauty aside, what no one can deny is the originality of this enclave where many of its homes, hotels, rural houses or businesses have been carved into the rocky walls of the gorge that forms the Guadalporcún River when it crosses this town at 640 meters of altitude.

"An astonishing urban stronghold, an unlikely alliance between architecture and geology", was defined by the Cervantes Caballero Bonald award.

9.00 Start at the top

The

Setenil tourist office

(1)

is located at the top of the town, and the reason to start the visit in this old 16th century town hall is also to admire its Mudejar coffered ceiling, unique in the province and which shows an inscription with the date on which its fortress was taken from the Arabs by the Catholic Monarchs in 1484. Almost adjacent, the

Casa de la Damita de Setenil (2)

houses a small history museum whose masterpiece is a tiny Venus of more than 5,000 years old discovered in excavations at the end of the last century.

11.00 Almohads and Christians

After a good breakfast at the

El Lizón

restaurant

(3)

, in the beautiful and well-kept Plaza de Andalucía, it is time to ascend to the top of Setenil along the steep

Calle de la Villa (4)

, cross the old arch of the same name and enjoy the pure air of the mountains before visiting the

Torre del Homenaje

, the remainder of what was an Almohad fortress from the 12th century and later Nasrid.

Under the monument, a cistern from that time still stores rainwater.

In the same street stands

Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación (5)

, a late Gothic church with Mudejar reminiscences and some Renaissance influence, built in the 15th and 16th centuries on a mosque.

enlarge photo Added to the heritage value of the ancient city of Acinipo, located 999 meters above sea level, is a beautiful landscape with views that encompass the provinces of Cádiz, Málaga and Seville.

GETTY images

12.30 pm The ruins of Acinipo

A pleasant road that enters the municipal area of ​​Ronda leads to the

ruins of Acinipo (6)

(951 04 14 52; they open from Wednesday to Sunday, from 9:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.).

It is about 10 kilometers from Setenil and, if you prefer, you can walk or cycle along the so-called Ruta de los Bandoleros.

These remains tell us about a Roman city that had its heyday at the end of the 1st century, but whose antiquity dates back to the 3rd century BC, according to Ptolemy and Pliny the Elder.

Of this city built on a Neolithic settlement there are still vestiges of the thermal baths, the wall and its theater, with the stands carved out of the rock and in good condition.

Back in town, the center invites you to stroll through some of its most typical white streets, where geraniums hang in their pots, and encased between fragments of rock and remains of the Arab wall:

Herrería -

staggered and flanked by cave houses -, the impressive

Calcetas (7)

and

Mina,

which treasures the

Coracha site,

fragments of a medieval structure that made it easier to obtain water in times of siege.

15.00 Eat in the sun or in the shade

When trying the gastronomy of Setenil, you have to go to the two streets located on both banks of the Guadalporcún and which are the most repeated photo:

Cuevas del Sol (8)

and

Cuevas de la Sombra (9)

.

In these narrow roads (the first, facing south, receives more light and heat, and in the second the sky is the stone of the pit) the houses, bars, restaurants and shops are in caves excavated centuries ago in the rock , which facilitates the conservation of heat in winter and cool in summer.

They were inhabited for at least 5,000 years, according to the utensils and objects found.

The bars

La Tasca

and

Lucía,

in Cuevas del Sol, or

Sol y Sombra

and

La Casita,

in Cuevas de la Sombra, are some of the places with Setenilian specialties: the cortijera soup, based on bread with olive oil, asparagus and egg;

the crumbs with chorizo, the scrambled eggs with blood sausage and, for dessert, various sweets washed down, of course, also with oil from these lands.

In the middle of the afternoon you can return to this street to take a look at the

gourmet

products store

La Dehesa del Ibérico

, which sells hams and sausages, Sherry wines, regional cheeses and typical sweets.

enlarge photo View of the Cadiz town of Setenil de las Bodegas.

Stefano Valeri alamy

18.00 Troglodyte dwellings

The alleys in the center wind around the river, which is crossed by several bridges built between the 15th and 17th centuries.

On a walk you can visit the churches and hermitages of that same period such as

San Benito (10)

, the marinera

Nuestra Señora del Carmen (11)

and

San Sebastián (12)

(the first built after the taking of the city and consecrated to this saint for having given birth to Isabel la Católica in Setenil to her son Sebastián during the siege of the town, according to legend).

To the north, the winding

streets of La Jabonería

and its

Cabrerizas

extension

are as picturesque as those already mentioned, or even more so, for their troglodyte dwellings.

El Bandolero

offers here a good terrace on the river to have a drink at sunset.

20.30 Rich fish for dinner

At dinner time, the terraces of Cuevas del Sol restaurants, such as

Frasquito, La Bodeguita

or

La Escueva,

are usually full in spring and summer.

All offer affordable menus with local dishes.

A good alternative to get out of the center is

El Nogalejo

(Alcalá del Valle road, kilometer 1), which has earned a good reputation for its fish and seafood dishes.

22.00 Room with views

To end the night, the

Ginco (13)

is the locals' favorite for a drink.

It also serves take-out cuisine.

At bedtime, another of the charms of this town are its beautiful rural houses integrated into this special environment.

One option is

El Tajo (14)

, in Cuevas de la Sombra, an accommodation with two apartments, views of the river and the caves that face the Sun, and with rock fragments as a roof.

Find inspiration for your next trips on our Facebook and Twitter and Instragram or subscribe here to the El Viajero Newsletter.

Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-04-09

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