|
Beside the wine trail, the municipalities of Niebla, Bollullos del Condado, the province of Huelva hide in the interior away from the coast. There are numerous paradises in this Andalusian province in southern Spain. The strawberry cultivation is a very important part of the heritage of this beautiful province. In the interior of the Province of Huelva, you'll find Niebla, which belongs to the wine route. It is a locality where the Tartessus, and Romans passed through, who built a bridge over the Odiel and exploited the copper mines until the 5th century; the Arabs, who converted this place into the independent Taifa Kingdom, and whose legacy are its walls... Niebla is a city with an enchanting history.
Close to Niebla, you'll discover La Palma de Condado, a Roman city that has some of the biggest and most famous harvests of all of Andalusia in the month of September. It is done in honor of the Virgen e la Guia. From La Palma to Condano, you get to Bollullos Par del Condado, where the vineyards and olive trees rule the land, and where El Día del Vino (Day of Wine) is celebrated.
Leaving behind the Wine Route, next is the Sierra de Aracena, a place where the Reconquest left its footprint with the building of fortresses and small castles throughout the mountain range. From these mountains, you'll appreciate its white-washed villages, holm oaks, acorn trees, and some of the very best ham in all of Spain, the Jamón Serrano de Huelva. We now move on to Alajar, a town situated over a crag, in which you'll find the Santuario Nuestra Señora de los Angeles. FromAlajar we go to Aracena, at 12 kilometres from this locality, a municipality of rural tourism in summer, which has the Iglesia del Castillo church, its Gruta (grotto) de las Maravillas (the biggest in Spain), and in the interior you'll find stalactite, stalagmite, and big cavernous rooms and natural lakes.
For gastronomy and restaurants, for jamón serrano lovers, nothing is better than going to Jabugo, a locality that is famous for its ham. If you stay on in the Sierra (mountains), you'll be able to see villages like Castaño de Robeldo.
During almost six centuries, the Arabs ruled this part, and this is why the mosques, castles, and above all, the ame of the towns, are Arabic: Almonster, Aracena, Galaroza, and others.
If you go back in time even before the Arabs, the Celts and the Romans were here. Aroce was an important centre of operation in the Roman Empire. Through here passed Escision and Viriato. Aroche also has many museums, dolmens, Roman roads, ruins of an amphitheatre from the 2nd century, and a Roman town...
Leaving this town and still in the mountains, you can see many castles from the times of the Reconquest, white-washed villages protected by walls and surrounded by acorrns and encinas, a landscape that you can see in the Paraje Natural de la Sierra Pelada, where many different birds of pray live.
In the highest peaks of the mountains is the locality of Almonaster, where th Arabs left their important legacy, with a mosque and an Arabic castle. The mosque is said to be even older to that of Cordoba. In the outskirts are the Mudejare houses, white with a gothic style, a beautiful village left in their legacy.
Traveling through the interior of Huelva, and far from the beautiful Sierra Mountains, we arrive in Valverde del Camino, a place where the train went through, and part of the economy in the area was attributed to the exploitation of the mines. It is an authentic mine scenery, representative of the mining basin of Riotinto, mines that are some of the oldest in the world, and have been mined for over 4000 years. This is why they get the name of Minas de Riotinto, it is a municipality that still conserves part of the British legacy from the end of last century, when the British exploited the mine. In this area, crossing the Rio Tinto, you'll find the Chapel of the Virgen de la Corunada, patrona of the commarch, and whose pilgrimage is celebrated the Monday of Easter. |