Grazalema,

A picturesque mountain village 

in the 

Sierra de Grazalema

Prologue:

So much can be said about the village of Grazalema, 
surrounded by rugged limestone mountains, shaped by snow and rain, its long and vivid history, 

and its centennial customs and traditions.

Located within the Nature Park Sierra Grazalema, Cádiz Province, the surrounding area is a jewel for nature lovers, and with its many restaurants serving local specialties, the village is a popular destination for day trippers, but also various hotels offer a tranquil  break away from it all. Although the village is well visited it hasn't lost its charm and allure.

       Destinations:

• Coming from Marbella AP-7 you take the road towards Ronda A-397.
• By Ronda you head towards Sevilla A-374 and after about 16 km/15 min. you come to the turn off to Grazalema A-372. 
• It is a very scenic drive, which takes about 1h45min.

In springtime the Ronda plateau is especially beautiful as there is a lush green colour everywhere and a profusion of wild flowers to be seen.

From the crossroad we drive through a cork oak forest.
Ahead of us the Sierra de Grazalema.

At the next crossroad we turn right towards the village of Grazalema.

On the left side the rugged, steep limestone cliffs. and below them are grazing sheep in green pastures.

Ahead of us we see the Pueblo Blanco of Grazalema,
how it sits there like a white gem surrounded by high limestone mountains.

At the entrance to the village we stopped at a cheese shop,
 which Grazalema is famous for.

Finca Las Hazuelas is not only a cheese shop, it is a restaurant, a rural hotel and you also can observe the cheese production.  

Queso Payoyo Sl cheese company was founded in 1995 and first elaborated cheese in 1997. 

The company won the World Cheese Awards gold, silver and bronze for various cheeses in 2016/2017

Payoyo cheese is solely produced from the milk of sheep and goats from the region of Sierra de  Grazalema, Serranía de Ronda and the Alcornocales Nature Area.

Queso Payayo+Finca Las Hazuelas

In the shop you are invited to taste the cheeses, you are also able to buy other local products like honey, olive oil and Ronda wines.

 We then drove on and followed the road A-372 through the village until we found a large car park near the Mirador de Grazalema.

At the Viewpoint you will have a nice view over the pueblo.

Deep down we see  the road we came on and the cheese shop. 

Before we ventured through the village we took in some interesting facts about Grazalema.

The secrets of Grazalema

Situated in the North West of the Sierra de Cadiz, Grazalema is on the Route of the White Villages. The municipal area gives its name to the Biosphere Reserve of the Sierra de Grazalema, the first reserve of this type to be declared by UNESCO in the Iberian Peninsula, and to the Natural Park of the same name.

The archaeological remains of the town of Lacibula from the second century AD provide evidence of the roman origins of the town, which was inhabited by Visigoths and Muslims. from the latter it gained its present name, which comes from Gran Zulema. The town was reconquered in the fifteenth century by the Duke of Arcos, despite this many of inhabitants retained their Muslim faith, until there was was a strong repression of the Moors in the sixteenth century. It reached the height of its splendour in the eighteenth century thanks to the textile industry, when people started to refer to it as "Little Cadiz"

The urban structure of Grazalema is adapted to very heavy rainfall and its mountains terrain, it is one of the municipalities with the highest rainfall in the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. In addition, it possesses urban characteristics that are typically Arabic, such as narrow streets, whitewashed walls, and gable roofs. Its architectural heritage includes the churches of Our Lady of the Aurora, San Jose, Our Lady of the Incarnation, and San Juan -  which was built on top of an old mosque. There are also numerous examples of ethnographic heritage such as flour mills, ovens, presses, water deposits and fountains.

Grazalema is blessed with a wonderful natural environment, which is one of its main attractions. Tourist activities on offer in the municipality include hiking, climbing, and mountain-biking. It is important to point out that many of the tourist installations and services adhere to the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism, indicating a voluntary commitment to sustainable development in the Natural Park of the Sierra de Grazalema.

Information taken from the board.

From here we walked down towards the village centre.

The houses along the street had attractive entrances.

We walked passed the Church of Our Lady of Aurora and onto a square.

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de Aurora



Around the square you will find various restaurants and bars.

La Plaza de España 

The square brings together the most representative public activities in the town (administration, services, tourism, traditional festivals...).

It is believed that the Church of Nuestra Señora de la Aurora dates back to the 18th century. This theory is supported by the economic splendour at the time, which allowed the development of the city boundaries.

Information taken from the board.

You find the town hall "Ayuntamiento de Grazalema" on the opposite side to the church on the Plaza de España.

The civic building also known as Casa Consistorial  dates back to the 20th century and was inaugurated in 1961.

The fountain "Fuente Plaza de España"

The fountain is located on the north side of the square Plaza de España and it is possibly of Visigoth origin. The basin is carved in two pieces of stone and the spouts are placed on four different faces.
Information taken from the board.

We walked along Calle Nueva, 

and approx. 300 m from the square we come across a smaller fountain of similar look and from the same time period.

The fountain Puentezuela is named after the street it is in.



The village is divided into two main parts:
Barrio Alto and Barrio Bajo

Barrio Bajo, the lower part stretches from the defensive area to the Fountain of the Pontezuela, whereas the Barrio Alto, the upper part has developed from this fountain to the West end of the town.

The Barrio Alto, is made up of rectangular blocks and very long streets. We can highlight the Iglesia de San José (Church of Saint Joseph) and the widening of the Calle Nueva (New Street).

The Barrio Bajo holds the first settlements of the town. Its layout is typical of Muslim origin with singular buildings and narrow alleyways. In this neighbourhood culture and domestic architecture are combined.

Jopiches y Jopones

The word "hopo or jopo", meaning lock or figuratively, bull penis, was used to distinguish the inhabitants from one neighborhood and another.

The Jopones (big bull penis) lived in the Barrio Alto (high neighbourhood) of the town and they mostly belonged to the religious brotherhood Nuestra Señora del Carmen. and they lived on pasturage and cattle raising.

The Jopiches (small bull penis) lived in the Barrio Bajo (low neighbourhood) of the town, they mostly belonged to the religious brotherhood of Nuestra Señora de los Angeles, and they were workers of the textile factories.

The neighbourhood of Jopiches, was much more developed than the one of Jopones, and it held the best houses in the town which were inhabited by high classes. Furthermore, the buildings for the different State institutions were there.

In the past this distinction was very common and nowadays we still can assure that traditions are kept up as children in this town, when they play football at school, they form two teams, Jopones versus Jopiches.

Information taken from the board.

You find the church Iglesia de San José in the Calle San José in the higher part of the village. The church dates back to the 17th century.

Adjoining the church you will find the park of Saint Joseph (Parque San José), which holds the remains of the prior Convent of the Carmelite order (Carmelitas Descalzos).

In Calle Emigrantes we found a little park with a good viewpoint over the village.

It is here where the villagers like to meet, especially in hot summertime. 

This view takes you across to the church of San José.

High above the village towards the north we can see the dam of the reservoir 
Embalse de Fresnillo.



The view towards the south and the mountain Peñon Grande (1309m)



It is the main icon of Grazalema.



From here we look across the village and towards the plains of Ronda.




After taking in the views, we soaked up some of the village history and headed back down to the village where we found a nice little restaurant.



La Maroma is located in Calle Santa Clara




The name "La Maroma" is the rope used for the run of the bull.



The restaurant had a very traditional look but the menu was innovative and modern with traditional dishes combined.



Everything we ordered was very tasty.

Fried Mushrooms with garlic and honey, (Setas con Ali Oli de Miel)
Pork steak in breadcrumbs, (San Jacobo de Presa Ibérica y Salsa Pimenta)

Roasted vegetables, (Verduras asadas)

Mini Beefburger in black bread roll, (Hamburguesa)

Nido de Cuerda,
Chicken strips, Quail egg on a bed of thin chips. 

After we left the restaurant we headed back to the village centre, along the street of 
Calle Dr. Mateos Gago.



We admire the very old and interesting facades as we walked along.



It is quite something, to see so many flower pots in a row even in the winter time.



Some of the houses had majestic entrances.

Casa Señoriales (Manor houses)

The village of Grazalema has a large number of "Manor houses" all along its old quarter. Most of them were built in the 18th century, and have arcades with half pediments at their tops. The windows are barred and dressed with colourful pots of geraniums, they have large cedar doors made with steel nails, and decorated with the most varied artistic carvings. All these details give a post Renaissance air to the houses, very typical of this village.

Some other houses were built during the 19th century by the cloth manufactures, which can be seen in their coat of arms. You can find various architectural forms, like Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism...

Some of the grand entrances .

The entrance of a former Pharmacy



Some houses are waiting to be renovated.



What kind of treasures lay hidden beneath the plaster work?



Quite intriguing to see this decorative wall design.




The bell tower of the church San Juan de Letrá, at the end of the street.

Iglesia de San Juan

The 18th century religious temple is the smallest church incorporated into the urban framework of Grazalema. The Mudejar series of arches in its tower as well as the general characteristics of this building, point to a former mosque and minaret. 

Information taken from the board.

This beautiful tiled information board explains some of the history of the pueblo. It was the North African Berbers who gave Grazalema its name, Madihat-Ibn-As-Salin, followed by Zullema and Az-zulema to the current name.

After we walk through a small alleyway we come to the place with the statue of Toro de Grazalema.



Bull on a rope (Toro de Cuerda)

Grazalema is probably the oldest pueblo in Spain where a feast is celebrated in honor of the bull. Studies have revealed that an evolution of a Celtic ritual that already existed in this area 2500 years ago. Later at around 2000 years ago Roman historians mentioned that this ritual was celebrated in Lacibula (current Grazalema)   

The run of the bull is celebrated in mid July.

The bull is tied with a long rope on its horn and then chased through the pueblo by the locals.

On the way back to the main square we passed another cheese shop.

Casa de la Abuela Agostina (the house of Grandmother Agostina) was established in 2014, it is a small cheese factory producing handicraft cheeses from Payoyo goats and sheep from ecological farms around this area of Sierra de Grazalema.

We couldn't resist and bought some more of these very tasty cheeses.



Loaded with goodies we headed back to our car.



We drove further on the A-372 road, which took us above Grazalema and near the Camp-site we found a large car park.

We had another stroll around to assimilate with the surrounding area.

Right there we saw the indigenous Spanish fir, Pinsapo

The Spanish fir, El Pinsapar (Abies pinsapo) is a species of fir found in southern Spain and northern Morocco. Related to other species of Mediterranean firs, it is considered the  Andalusian National Tree, and is native to the Andalusian mountains. It appears in the Sierra de las Nieves by Ronda, and Sierra Bermeja in the province of Málaga, and Sierra de Grazalema in the province of Cádiz at altitudes of 900 - 1,800 meters.

The river Guadalete plays an important roll in the province of Cádiz.

The rivers source lays in the Sierra de Grazalema and after 165 km it enters the Atlantic Ocean in El Puerto de Santa María. Its river basin holds 3677 km2 of water and therefore is very important for the municipalities of Cádiz.

Another significant fact about the village of Grazalema is, that it is the rainiest area in Andalucía and even in Spain. In some years reaching a maximum of 4000 litres/m2, although the annual average is around 2200 litres/m2. 

This phenomenon is caused by the mountains, which are one of the first natural barriers encountered by cloud banks arriving from the Atlantic Ocean into the Iberian Peninsula. After about 80 km, the clouds rise from elevation 0 to 1600 meters causing condensation in the clouds, which then causes rainfall.

This climatic fact makes possible the growth of a very special kind of fir trees, the Pinsapos.

Information taken from board.

How to get to Grazalema