Hilltop Moorish castle above the town of Carcabuey, Sierras Subbeticas, Andalusia. Spain
The castle of Carcabuey was built over the site of a 10th Century Moorish fort in medieval times and houses the hermitage of the Virgen of María Santísima del Castillo de Carcabuey. Carcabuey is a delightful village with pretty streets and fabulous views as it is set on a hill. The castle crowns the village on the hilltop and you can even drive right up to it. In addition to the castle with its hermitage lodged inside, the town itself is praised for providing some of the best examples of Cordoban-style architecture. Nuestra Señora de la Asunción Church, the Calvario and Aurora hermitages. Outside the village there are archeological sites dating back to paleolithic times and also remains from Roman and Moorish settlement. Carcabuey is the administrative centre for the Parque Natural Sierra Subbetica. Declared a Regional Park in 1988, the 122 sq. range rises to a height of 1570 metres at the limestone summit of La Tinosa - just 7 kilometres from the town of Priego de Cordoba. The natural abundance of underground water comes to the surface at numerous springs and streams, and supports a typical vegetation of gall and holm oak, maple, wild olive, ilex and mastic trees. Wildlife including Golden eagle, imperial eagle, griffon vulture, short toed and eagle owls thrive in the park as well as kestrel and peregrine falcon. Wild cat, boar, fox and hedgehog are among the mammals, whose most distinctive and unusual member is undoubtedly the red-toothed Cabrera shrew. The limestone uplands provide excellent walking conditions with wooded slopes, rocky gorges, Moorish watchtowers and many caves, notably the Cueva de Murcielaga - Bat Cave, near Zuheros where Neothithic paintings and other prehistoric human traces have been found. The villages and small towns of the Subbetica are all white painted, and most of them have the remains of a Moorish castle or other antiquity. Carcabuey, Zuheros, Luque, Zagrilla and Almedinilla. Olive oil is the mainstay of the Subbetica
Size: 4288px × 2848px
Location: Carcabuey, Andalusia. Spain
Photo credit: © Neil Cooper / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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