Typical house in Priego de Córdoba
There are a thousand ways to know Andalusia : cross it from end to end, navigate it from end to end, jump from oil mill to oil mill... or live it from party to party. The latter is that of Caminos de Pasión, a historical-artistic route that runs through some of the towns with the most tradition.
here they fit festivals, pilgrimages and processions , but also typical gastronomy, crafts, heritage and landscape. Let's go?
Wine from the D.O. Montilla Moriles, in Lucena
**LUCENA, CORDOBA **
In the south of the province, in full Subbética region and surrounded by olive trees and vines (It is the last town of the D.O. Montilla Moriles), is the city where Boabdil El Chico, the last king of Granada, slept behind bars before being handed over to the Catholic Monarchs. This fact (even as an escape room) is recorded in the visits to the castle of Moral, which was his prison.
Of his Jewish past not only the largest excavated Jewish necropolis in the peninsula, but also the names of the streets, in Spanish and Hebrew, its pottery and Sephardic sweets (the ears of Haman, the stars of Sepharad, the Egyptians...) from the **Cañadas pastry shop, a centenary establishment** whose logo is a painting by Julio Romero de Torres –who authorized its owners to use it– and where during the Civil War some cupcakes called 'republicans' triumphed which, through censorship, renamed themselves 'Germans'.
But if something makes today's Lucena famous, it is its Holy Week, totally different from the others. And no, not because the Lucentinos (and also) say it with their chests out, but because the rest of Andalusia, albeit with a small mouth, recognizes it that way.
The main difference – there goes the explanation for the uninitiated – is that here it is “santea”, that is to say that the throne of the image is carried bravely: directly to the shoulder and with an uncovered face to the sound of the drum. That happens on the big day and that's what anyone can see, but behind there is a centennial and hierarchical organization.
Butchery A. Varo in the Municipal Market of Abastos, in Lucena
**ALCALÁ LA REAL, JAEN**
Although very few know it, Jaén has its own Macondo. This is how the historian baptized Paul Preston in the prologue of The light factory.
life and miracles friars, the small town in the southern mountains of the province where he arrived Michael Jacobs, the eccentric English travel writer author of this novel full of character and humor in which he recounts his adventures and misadventures, including the episode in which he himself recovered the Cinema España, closed thirty years ago, to project El último cuplé, with Sara Montiel herself at the premiere.
Jacobs passed away in 2014 and, since then, in his honor a travelogue award is celebrated (by the way, jointly with the Gabriel García Márquez Foundation for New Ibero-American Journalism) which brings together here writers and intellectuals from different places.
This town, located between the provinces of Jaén, Granada and Córdoba, it was also for centuries Land of the Frontier, and its fortress, La Mota, marked the boundary between the kingdoms of Granada and Castile for more than 150 years.
Sheriff's Palace, in Ecija
With one of the largest walled perimeters in Andalusia, seven gates, three towers (the Homage, the Bell or the Candle and the Mocha Tower), a citadel and a Major Abbey church, It is something that one does not expect to find in the middle of Jaén. And less with the restoration and staging with which the visit is carried out, which makes it simple travel back in time and recreate the medieval days in which Alcalá alternately passed from Christian to Arab hands given its strategic location.
GENIL BRIDGE, CORDOBA
They have been around since the 1st century AD. there, but it wasn't until a decade ago that the mosaics of the Roman Villa of Fuente Álamo They received the importance they deserved. Between the undergrowth and the rubble began to appear the magnificent tesserae and their quantity and quality, the materials used and the type of constructions in which they are found give clues to the importance of the settlement and the status of its inhabitants.
Interestingly, Puente Genil is famous for two more reasons: its quince meat and its early riser use of electricity. In fact, incredible as it may seem, it was the second place in Spain that had electricity (after Barcelona) and the first to decorate Christmas with lights.
Told, the story of its success could pass for that of a startup today, but we are talking about 40 years ago. When in one small electrical appliance store, that of Francisco Jiménez, in whose window there was little more than a couple of transistors and some iron, They created a Christmas star out of light bulbs.
Embroidery workshop of Jesús Rosado Borja, in Écija
It was so popular that it began to be replicated, first in the town, then in the surroundings, and not only to celebrate December, but to illuminate all the fairs throughout Andalusia (which are a few).
Currently, the company, which today for marketing and size reasons is called Ximénez Lighting Group , has hundreds of workers, has an advanced R&D department, bills millions of euros and is considered among the top five lighting companies in the world, brightening the streets, carnivals and celebrations of half the planet, from Dubai to Chicago and from Delhi to Sydney. Even the window of Tiffany's, on Fifth Avenue, bears the seal of Puerto Genil.
**ECIJA, SEVILLE **
During years was known as 'the skillet of Andalusia' and the guides threw eggs on the ground that began to take out the lace almost before falling. Now, with climate change stifling, its inhabitants no longer like the game at all, and they pass the hot potato (pun intended) to other places like Córdoba or Marchena, “where it is the same heat”.
The other nickname with which Écija has been known (which they still like) is that of City of Towers thanks to its eleven bell towers, that today articulate one of the tourist routes through its historic center. These spiky watchtowers are the r reflection of the splendor that the city had during the 16th to 18th centuries, when the 'Ecija baroque' emerged and churches, convents, palaces and civil buildings sprouted like mushrooms, making it one of the most monumental places in Andalusia.
Grocery Museum Restaurant, in Carmona
The Penaflor Palace, recently restored and open to the public, it is one of the best examples. Another is the Benameji Palace , current Municipal Historical Museum of Écija.
Far from all that, a house outside the walls, continue the party There is one of the ten gold embroidery workshops who play in the Champions League, the Embroidered Jesus Rosado Borja , who, when he was a kid, he took to the needle and learned the trade in a convent of Philippians. He and his team continue to work as they have for centuries: racks, needle, thread and patience. 80% of his requests are for the brotherhoods, but he also they collaborate with haute couture firms , light suits (for the Rivera brothers, without going any further) and some wedding dresses.
CARMONA, SEVILLE
Half an hour from its capital is one of the oldest cities in Andalusia. But make no mistake, this is not a bedroom town, but one with its own idiosyncrasy. If we look up, we see old palace houses ; if we do it downwards, the candle wax of many holy weeks pasted on the stone.
It is what an outsider expects to find in Andalusia: traditional neighbourhoods, whitewashed houses, gothic churches (Santa Maria) , Mudejar (San Felipe, Santiago and San Blas) and baroque (Saint Peter and Saint Bartholomew), tapas bars with hanging hams (like the famous Mingalario), and even an old Jewish quarter.
Typical window in Carmona
Also exotic legends such as the one about the (English) cake and the one about the (French) omelette. The first talks about the most typical sweet in the city, and the second has royal overtones and is linked to the Palacio de las Cadenas. According to what they say, Felipe IV stayed in what was the house of the town councillor. He was sick and asked the cook to make him some eggs "neither overcooked nor undercooked", and The result was an omelette with eggs and oil that not only convinced the monarch, but also Isabel de Borbón, who would “godmother” her.
The third has to do with the sunflower fields of him, that have become authentic viral phenomena that daily charter buses of Japanese tourists in search of the selfie.
UTRERA, SEVILLE
Christian vs. Messi, Karpov and Kasparov, River-Boca... none of these rivalries is as old as that of the two parishes of the city of Utrera, Santa María and Santiago, to determine which of the two was founded earlier. A controversy that until now historians have not dared to close.
Horse-drawn carriage in Utrera
Although now it is no more than an anecdote, as happens in so many other Andalusian towns, for centuries marked many aspects of this city between the Sevillian countryside and the Guadalquivir marshes. It got to such a point that in Utrera today Corpus is celebrated three times: on June 7 in the parish of Santa María (the true Corpus of Utrera), the following Sunday in the church of Santiago, and now also, to break with the duality, on the last Sunday of May, leaving from San José, the most modern.
And, as if that were not enough, we still have football, because both the president of Sevilla and the former president of Betis were born – guess what – right here.
OSUNA, SEVILLE
The fact that it was recorded in Osuna the fifth season of and Game of Thrones he has his that. But it is not, far from it, the first time that the struggles of egos and rivalries between families are palpable along its monumental streets.
For some time the title of the most powerful nobles was not held by the Alba, but by the Osuna, that brought together twenty greatnesses of Spain. This was the case for centuries in which the city was adorned with luxurious palaces and churches until Mariano Tellez-Giron (1814-1882), twelfth in the saga (perhaps he did it to free the next one from the jinx), he will take as a mission to dynamite everything thanks to his waste, Among those that are, according to legend, having bought a horse to cut off its mane and tail and make it spin on a merry-go-round or throw a piece of gold tableware out the window after a banquet organized and paid for by him in Saint Petersburg.
Embroidery workshop in Osuna
GOAT, CORDOBA
In Cabra there is something that elections do not change every four years. The image of Our Lady of the Sierra is the perpetual mayor since September 8, 1958 and her patron saint for half a century before.
There, in her house, the sanctuary of the Sierra, about 15 kilometers away, is where the egabrenses (a demonym that disappoints many) they place the geographical center of Andalusia, which they angrily dispute in Lucena.
The adoration they have for their virgin it is such that when it had to be restored, the neighbors opposed their taking it away and it had to be the expert team that moved here. To her, as expected, the major festivals of the town are dedicated, which are held every year from September 3 to 8.
all that month the custom is to have a beer at the Tobalo tavern and buy a cone of potatoes at the Sheriff's stand, fried with the local oil. The round can continue Circle of Friendship or Casino, located in the old convent of the Order of San Juan de Dios that Juan Valera described in his work Pepita Jiménez and that continues to be the place with the best guarantees of meeting almost anyone. Also to the vice president of the acting government, Carmen Calvo, a native of the town.
The Bailiff's fries, in Cabra
PRIEGO OF CORDOBA
If he extra virgin olive oil Taking off your hat is not lacking on the table in any town on this route, the one here is a hat with a crown longer than that of a cypress. They endorse it two firms with a seal from Priego in the top of the best in the world according to this year's Evooleum International Awards and countless other awards.
Olive trees you will see many, but then you have to walk through the Barrio de la Villa, of medieval origin, between white houses, windows with geraniums and narrow streets. After that, go to the castle, with its homage tower, to the church of the Asunción and to the Fuente del Rey, next to the Fuente de la Salud. It is the small Fontana di Trevi in Priego, with its three baroque ponds and its 139 spouts with ghostly faces dedicated to Neptune.
BAENA, CORDOBA
The song begs the clock not to strike the hours, but she, a resident of Baena from the 18th century, she wanted exactly the opposite, that the Town Hall clock always worked. Therefore, she left her inheritance to guarantee its future operation.
Apart from the town hall, the square is flanked by eighteenth-century houses and decorated with a sculpture that speaks of its Holy Week. Is he Monument to the Jew, which represents the Coliblanco or Colinegro Jew.
From there you can go to the old almedina and the castle (14th and 15th centuries), in the highest part of the city, where the main monuments are found, such as the replica of the Iberian sculpture of the Lioness. Its original is in the Archaeological Museum of Madrid and due to the ex-votos discovered, which are exhibited in the Historical Museum, it is known that she was revered for joint care and fertility.
***** _This report was published in **number 131 of Condé Nast Traveler Magazine (September)**. Subscribe to the printed edition (11 printed issues and a digital version for €24.75, by calling 902 53 55 57 or from our website). The September issue of Condé Nast Traveler is available in its digital version to enjoy on your preferred device. _
Dome of the Church of the Assumption, in Priego de Córdoba