Pocket Rough Guide Seville by Rough Guides

Author:Rough Guides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Travel, Spain
Publisher: Apa Publications
Published: 2023-12-29T10:10:15+00:00

Gruta de las Maravillas

Turismo Andaluz

Aracena

MAP

Morning bus routes from Seville to Aracena only run on the weekends. Otherwise, rent a car and take the E-803 north out of town and veer west on the N-433.

Some 90km northwest of Seville, Aracena is the highest town in the Sierra Morena – the longest of Spain’s mountain ranges, extending almost the whole way across Andalucía. A substantial but pretty place, Aracena rambles partly up the side of a hill topped by the Iglesia del Castillo, a Gothic-Mudéjar church built by the Knights Templar around the remains of a Moorish castle. The town is flanked to the south and west by a small offshoot of the Sierra Morena – the Sierra de Aracena – a wonderfully verdant corner of Andalucía with wooded hills and villages with cobbled streets, which is perfect for hiking.

Aracena’s principal attraction, along with its award-winning cured Spanish ham (jamón ibérico), is the Gruta de las Maravillas, the largest and arguably most impressive cave in Spain. Supposedly discovered by a local boy in search of a lost pig, the cave is now illuminated and there are guided tours as soon as a couple of dozen or so people have assembled. To protect the cave, there’s a strict limit of forty persons per visit.

At weekends and holiday periods, try to visit before noon – coach parties with advance bookings tend to fill up the afternoon allocation. On Sunday, there’s a constant procession, but usually plenty of time to gaze and wonder. The cave is astonishingly beautiful, and funny to visit, too – the last chamber of the tour is known as the Sala de los Culos (Room of the Buttocks), its walls and ceiling an outrageous, naturally sculpted exhibition, tinged in a pinkish-orange light.

Hikers can pick up useful information (including maps and leaflets) on the surrounding Parque Natural Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche from an information centre in the ancient cabildo (town hall), Plaza Alta 5. You should also ask at the Aracena turismo for the free Senderos de la Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche map, which lists 23 waymarked routes.

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