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Cordoba Holidays
The province of Cordoba has all kinds of beautiful villages and natural area to visit |
The province of Cordoba has all kinds of beautiful villages and natural area to visit
Tourist information about Cordoba in Spain. Travel to Cordoba and let Spain-Holiday.com guide and accommodate you |
The countryside of Cordoba province is extremely varied, from rolling plains around Cordoba city, the Guadalquivir basin and south to Seville province, to forbidding mountain ranges with jagged peaks in the north and west. Dotted around the province are many pristine whitewashed villages with Baroque churches, Moorish castles and flower-festooned courtyards.
It´s a region famous for both its dry white wines, similar to sherry but fruitier and produced mainly from the Pedro Xímenez grape, and olive oil; vineyards and olive groves being a characteristic feature of the landscape, especially south of Cordoba.
central Guadalquivir Valley
The Río Guadalquivir flows slowly westwards towards Seville through the fertile heart of Cordoba province, with some interesting towns situated on the river plain.
On its banks is the provincial capital of Cordoba, established by the Romans but most famous for its Moorish heritage. In the 10th century it was the western capital of the Islamic empire. Today, it is a friendly city popular with visitors to its celebrated mezquita (mosque) (see photo 1). Next to the mezquita on the riverbank is a woodland wildlife haven in the heart of the city centre, Los Sotos de la Albolafia Natural Monument.
A few kilometres northwest of Cordoba is the ruined Moorish palace of Medina Azahara. Further downstream is Almodóvar del Río, with an impressive hilltop castle looming over the town. From the castle are superb views of the Guadalquivir valley. Palma del Río is also worth visiting, especially for its 15th-century monastery, now converted into a sumptious hotel, the Hospedería de San Francisco.
Northern Sierra Morena (photo 2)
The Sierra Morena is an area of sparsely populated rolling hills that run across northern Andalucia, creating a natural barrier between Extremadura to the north and Andalucia. Few tourists venture into these wild and remote pine- and oak-clad hills, with its landscape, atmosphere and village architecture more typical of adjacent Extremadura or Castilla La Mancha than the rest of Andalucia, to which it belongs.
If you want to explore the distant hills, head for the area´s coal-mining villages. Although not as picturesque as the whitewashed villages in the south of the province, the granite houses have their own brooding appeal. Espiel clings to the mountainside, while Bélmez is in a similarly magnificent spot on a rocky crag topped by a castle. One of the last villages before Extremadura is Fuente Obejuna, where the hated lord was dragged from his mansion by the villagers and publicly executed in 1476. This dramatic event was immortalised by the famous 17th-century playwright Lope de Vega in his work Fuenteovejuna.
On the western flank of Cordoba´s Sierra Morena is the densely wooded Sierra de Hornachuelos Natural Park, which is similar in its gently rolling hills to the bordering Sierra Norte Natural Park in Seville Province. Like the Sierra Norte, the Sierra de Hornachuelos has been designated a Unesco Biosphere Reserve for its principal land use: the dehesa, the mix of pasture - used for grazing livestock - and woodland - used for cork and producing charcoal. These extensive dehesas, typically wooded with cork and holm oaks, are a common feature of the Sierra Morena.
On the Sierra Morena´s eastern side is the Sierra de Cardeña y Montoro Natural Park, its Mediterranean woodland sheltering one of the last refuges of the highly endangered lynx, along with the rare wolf. Birds of prey are frequently seen soaring overhead and the park is to home to one of Andalucia´s largest colonies of black vultures. Don´t miss Montoro, an attractive town located on a hill above the Guadalquivir river and a good base for exploring the park
Southern Sierras:
Southeast of Aguilar, on the border of the dramatically rugged limestone peaks of the Sierras Subbéticas Natural Park, is the attractive town of Cabra, which has many interesting sights, including an archaeological museum and various churches and mansions. If you want to find out more about the Sierras Subbéticas, there´s also a visitors´ centre for the park here. Further south still is the large town of Lucena, well known for its numerous furniture workshops. It´s also worth stopping to explore its remarkable historic centre, with many fine examples of Baroque religious architecture.
In the southeastern corner of Cordoba province and on the northern edge of the Sierras Subbéticas is the mountain village of Zuheros, in a spectacular cliffside position with its intriguing Cueva de los Murciélagos (Cave of the Bats). Just east of Zuheros and also in the park is the pretty village of Luque, perched on a rocky outcrop and crowned by a castle. Seven kilometres north of Luque is Baena. Linking Zuheros and Luque and continuing southwest around the park to Cabra and Lucena, is the Vía Verde of the Subbética, an attractive walking and cycling route along the course of a former railway line.which produces some of Andalucia´s finest olive oil. Overlooking the Sierras Subbéticas is the delightful Priego de Cordoba, a beautiful town renowned for its outstanding Baroque churches, some of best in Andalucia.
South of here is Iznajar, located on a promontory and transformed by the creation of a massive reservoir on its doorstep. As well as being a great place for a walk, swim or picnic, you can also go canoeing or sailing on the reservoir.
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