Doña Mencía – Castle, Trails and Wine

Culture and History

The archaeological complex of Doña Mencía Castle includes a 15th-century castle founded by Diego Fernández de Córdoba in 1415, which preserves a large part of its original walls. The complex also includes the 17th-century oil mill of the Duke of Sessa and a municipal granary dating from the 17th to 18th centuries.

The most significant architectural landmark in the castle complex is the 17-metre-high Torre del Homenaje. The tower offers views over the complex, the historic landscape closely linked to the castle and the Sierras Subbéticas Nature Park.

The Museo Histórico-Arqueológico in the Casa de la Cultura «Juan Valera» preserves material from more than 300 archaeological sites in the province of Córdoba and the adjoining area of Jaén. The museum also displays remains from the Lower Palaeolithic, dated to between 250,000 and 100,000 years old.

The Iglesia Vieja was built in 1420 and expanded by the Dominican community between 1737 and 1742. The site of the former Iglesia Vieja was converted into an open-air auditorium in 2000; cultural events are held there in summer.

The Semana Santa of Doña Mencía combines tradition and modernity through the Vía Crucis, the Lavatorio, the Prendimiento, the Descendimiento and the Bendición at the «cuatro esquinas». These elements are accompanied by «rezaores» and «pregoneros»; Semana Santa has been recognised as an event of tourist interest in Andalusia and is organised around fourteen brotherhoods or religious associations.

Trails and Nature

The Vía Verde de la Subbética passes through Doña Mencía, running for 58 kilometres between Linares and Puente Genil along a former railway line. The Doña Mencía station on the Vía Verde houses a restaurant and a leisure area with rest facilities, bicycle parking, a water point, a parking area for caravans and motorhomes, and a rental service for bicycles and environmentally friendly vehicles.

The Vía Verde de la Subbética is intended for cycling tourists, walkers, hikers and horse riders. The Ruta de las Fuentes is an approximately 11-kilometre circular route that ends at the former railway station of Doña Mencía. A circular route starts and ends in the centre of Doña Mencía and is approximately 2,780 metres long.

An approximately 7-kilometre circular route starts and ends at the Pilar de Abajo or the «Fuente del Ejido».

The Sierra Abrevia hiking trail runs through the municipalities of Zuheros and Doña Mencía. The Sierra de la Abrevia is considered a landscape of high natural value, is protected as a nature park within RENPA and has been designated a UNESCO Geopark.

You can find more destination pages here: Cabra, Villa Del Río, Alcolea, Santa María De Trassierra, Zambra, Bujalance, Villafranca De Córdoba, Gaena-Casas Gallegas.

Wine

Doña Mencía belongs to the wine-growing area with the Montilla-Moriles designation of origin. The associated wine and tourism offering includes wineries and lagares that can be visited; in Doña Mencía, wines from this designation of origin are tasted and sold.

For the higher-level travel overview: Cordoba.