By Jo Williams
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Huelva villages with
their quaintly
decorated windowsills |
Northern Huelva
Part of the rugged Sierra Morena mountain range,
the Sierra
de Aracena y Picos de Aroche is a protected natural park of
extensive woodland dotted with small whitewashed villages.
The rolling hills have a network of footpaths, which
make it excellent walking and horseriding country. In the spring,
the area is awash with wildflowers, while in the autumn the landscape
is splashed with bright changing colours of the trees.
The area's main town, Aracena,
has a distinctive hilltop ruined fortress and a Knights' Templar
church. Deep underground in the hillside are some spectacular limestone
caves, the Gruta de las Maravillas.
The Sierra is home to the renowned cured ham delicacy,
jamón ibérico. This comes from the black Iberian pigs
that feed on acorns underneath the holm oak trees that colonise
the Sierra. The ham is produced throughout the area, but the biggest
producer is based in Jabugo,
a village whose name has become synonymous with jamón ibérico.
Autumn is the best time to visit the Sierra for
its other famed gastronomic treat, the wild mushroom. The Sierra
also is well known for its sweet chestnuts, which you can sample
when they are harvested in the autumn. The area has many chestnut
trees, which give their name to the village of Castaño. This
beautiful village has some of the Sierra's oldest and best-preserved
houses, clustered around a tiny square.
Many places have hilltop monuments including Cortegana,
with its impressive medieval castle perched high above the town
and one of the best views of the Sierra.
Almonaster
la Real is a charming village situated below a 10th-century
former mosque, which has an arched interior reminiscent of the mezquita
in Cordoba.
Aroche
is set in a dramatic position on a hilltop with its bullring situated,
strangely, within its castle's walls.
Towering above the pretty village of Alájar
is the Peña de Arias Montano, a clifftop hermitage dedicated
to Alájar's patron saint, Nuestra Señora de los Angeles
and the site of a well-known annual pilgrimage in September.
The small village of Zufre
is tucked away up on a hill. It has the best square in the Sierra,
with attractive tiled benches, lovely gardens and stunning views
over the surrounding countryside.
Castaņo del Robledo is a village in the Sierra which has remained largely unchanged for centuries. It boasts an impressive church and produces half of Huelva province's chestnut output.
Higuera de la Sierra has a famous Three Kings procession, when everyone in the town takes part in playing out Bible scenes. It is the only one of its kind in Spain, and is also one of the oldest.
Corteconcepcion has a spectacular hilltop bullring, as well as superb local ham and views over the Aracena reservoir.
Puerto Moral is a hill town known for its picturesque location next to the Aracena reservoir, a great place for fishing, watersports, swimming and walks.
Los Marines, just outside Aracena, is famous for its chestnut trees and its many fiestas. Santa Ana la Real also has festivals aplenty, but take your umbrella - it is known for the abundance of its rainfall.
Further south in the foothills of the Sierra are the mines of Río Tinto, which have been exploited for five thousand years for silver, iron and copper. Today, you can find out about the area's fascinating history at the Rio Tinto Mining Park in the town of Las Minas de Rio Tinto, with its museum, mine visit and train rides.
The town of Nerva is located just south of Minas de Rio Tinto, and shares its mining heritage.
Southern Huelva
The Huelva section of the Costa de la Luz has many
resorts that have wide, sandy beaches backed by pine woods and nature
reserves of marshland and dunes.
Ayamonte
is a border town with a Portuguese feel about its streets. The nearest
beach is the newly built Isla Canela resort. East
from Isla Canela, across an area of marshland known as the Paraje
Natural Marismas de Isla Cristina, worth a visit for a spot
of birdwatching, is Isla
Cristina. This resort, with an impressive choice of great beaches
and a busy fishing port, is popular with Sevillanos in summer.
Ten kilometres east is the more low-key resort of
La Antilla. This is the beach
for the village of Lepe,
the strawberry growing capital of Europe. La
Antilla beach on the eastern edge merges into the spit of El
Rompido, which has virtually deserted beaches and sand dunes.
From the spit across the Río Piedras estuary are views to
the small fishing village of El Rompido.
Punta
Umbría is the largest resort on the Huelva Costa de la
Luz and in summer is full of beachgoers enjoying its numerous lively
bars and restaurants. If you want to get away from the crowds, visit
the Paraje Natural Marismas
del Odiel, a large wetland reserve full of birdlife that borders
the northern edge of Punta Umbría.
East of Huelva is the small resort of Mazagón
and its bigger neighbour, Matalascañas. Between these two
is one of best beaches in Andalucía, the Playa de Castilla,
backed by fossilised dunes and pine woods.
Matalascañas is the nearest village to the
entry point of the enormous Parque
Nacional de Doñana. Eighteen kilometres north of Matalascañas
is the curious Wild West hamlet of El
Rocío, scene of a seething mass of pilgrims at Pentecost
for the village's renowned Rocío
Pilgrimage.
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