The streets, for example, are cobbled, with grass growing through in the less trodden areas, and an appreciable proportion of the population of each village is still composed of chickens, goats and mules.
Aracena is as charming a small town as any in Andalusia. There are hotels and exceptional restaurants, and if it rains, you can spend a pleasant hour or two in the Gruta de las Maravillas, Spain’s most spectacular cave and the set for the filming of Journey to the Centre of the Earth.
Dominating the town is the beautiful 15th-century church of Nuestra Señora de los Dolores, with its magnificent Mudéjar tower. Near by is the Cabildo Viejo, with a museum where you can orientate yourself in the culture and commerce of the area. In the early part of the 20th century Aracena was a watering place for British administrators and engineers escaping the heat and dust of the Río Tinto Mines. The Sevillan architect Aníbal González created for them the delightful suburb of Aracenilla, where the grand houses are an appealing hybrid of Spanish señorial, English garden city and Indian hill station.
Sierra de Aracena is small enough to walk around, the ways through the little hills and valleys are not too taxing, and on a hot day there’s always the shade of the woods. The paths are well marked — or some of them are, but it’s a nice place to get lost anyway. You never have to walk more than a couple of hours before you come to a village where you can revitalise yourself.
From Aracena itself you can walk out through the dehesas, bull-rearing country. The paths meander among green hills, lightly wooded with holm and cork oak. The stone walls that divide the meadows separate you from the beautiful black toros bravos: fighting bulls, but here seeming as peaceable as cows.
For a good morning’s walk go southwest to Linares de la Sierra, about four hours. Linares is all you could want from a Spanish village: storks on the church tower, flowers on the wooden balconies, a beautiful circular public washpool, cobbled paths leading among the neatly cultivated terracing below the village, a tiny bullring and a couple of bars.
From Linares the path takes to the woods, leading you up to a ridge at the head of the next valley. Down through the chestnuts and cork oak following the stream brings you to Alájar, which is similar to Linares but bigger, with restaurants, bars and a posada.
On September 8 all the villagers for miles around gather for the romería (pilgrimage) of Alájar, on the spectacular cliff above the village, the Peña de Arias Montano. From here you can walk a couple of hours over to Fuenteheridos, another exquisite village much touted for its gastronomy.
Alternatively head west, about five hours to Almonaster la Real. The best thing here is the little Mezquita, the mosque, on a promontory at the end of the town. You won’t find the Mezquita of Almonaster la Real in the books of world-class monuments, but you’ll have it all to yourself, and it is as simply, satisfyingly beautiful as a building can be.
There are dozens of these villages, and each has its own delights, so just wander and feast as you go. What you should feast upon is wild mushrooms, for which the Sierra de Aracena is famed. I am told that whereas the rest of Spain boasts a mere 80 varieties of wild mushroom, Aracena has almost 400. Though you can get them dried, pickled or frozen throughout the year, the best time for the fresh fungus is October and November.
Next page: Even more conspicuous and delicious, though, is the Iberian pig...
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