Alcalá La Real: Fortress, Festivals and Trails
The Fortaleza de la Mota is classified as an Asset of Cultural Interest and preserves the original structure of the Almohad wall as well as the Renaissance urban layout.
History
The fortress complex follows the layout of an Islamic city and is divided into three fortified areas: Madina, Alcázar and Arrabal. Siege galleries run beneath the Fortaleza de la Mota, connecting the Arrabal with the Madina and extending through more than 120 metres of tunnels with a gradient of 40 per cent.
Festivals and Religious Culture
Etnosur is a free multidisciplinary festival held since 1997 on the third weekend of July in Alcalá la Real. It combines music with circus, workshops, storytelling, street activities, handicrafts and food, and extends throughout Alcalá la Real.
Holy Week in Alcalá la Real is recognised as a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Nacional and is characterised by mime performances and dramatised proclamations originating in the Baroque autos sacramentales. The Casa-Hermandad del Ecce Homo y Jesús en la Columna houses an exhibition with dressed and masked figures, a family altar and photographs of Holy Week in Alcalá la Real.
Town and Museums
The route through the old town follows the Llanillo from the Paseo de los Álamos to the Compás de Consolación, passing San Antón and the former Convento de Capuchinos. The Palacete de la Hilandera is a house built at the end of the 19th century and one of the best examples of Modernismo in the comarca.
The Museo de la Regiliosidad is located in the Iglesia de San Juan and displays exhibitions on local popular religiosity, including Rostrillos depicting biblical figures during Holy Week in Alcalá la Real. The Yacimiento Domus Herculana contains the city of Alcalá la Real’s most significant Roman archaeological remains. Excavations there uncovered a head of a faun and a high relief of Hercules with a dog; both can be seen in the Museo de Palacio Abacial.
The entrance gardens of the Convento de la Trinidad preserve the remains of a maqbara, a former Muslim cemetery. A multipurpose building was reconstructed on the site of the former church and the Convento de la Trinidad, founded in 1475, and is intended to serve as an exhibition and catering centre. The Jardines de la Trinidad preserve cypress and boxwood trees, as well as a fountain and remains of pergolas, springs, stairways and balustrades.
Other direct destinations: Charilla.
Nature and Trails
Alcalá la Real provides access to two stages of the Camino Mozárabe de Santiago and serves pilgrims from Granada as the endpoint of a stage and as the starting point of the route through the province of Jaén. The approved hiking trail along the Río Velillos follows the river through a landscape of the municipality characterised by dry farming.
The Centro de Rescate de Anfibios y Reptiles provides information about native and invasive species and participates in the rescue of threatened native populations as well as exotic animals from the pet trade. The approved Zumaques route leads to the impressive rock gorges known as "Los Tajos", beneath which natural vegetation has been preserved as a remnant of the Mediterranean forests of southern Spain.
To the higher-level travel overview: Jaen.
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