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LECRIN VALLEY

Where to Sleep?




Hostels, spas, hotels, cottages, tourist accommodation...

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Where to Eat?




Author's cuisine, traditional, exotic...but with natural products

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Experiences




Adventure, hiking, spa, horseback riding, wine tasting...

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Producers




Producers in the Lecrin Valley

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Featured Posts

31

March

2024

III JORNADAS TURISMO ACTIVO VALLE DE LECRÍN

Consulta la programación de las III Jornadas de Turismo Activo del Valle de Lecrín que tendrán lugar los próximos 18 y 19 de abril en la nave F.E.V.E. de Padul.

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25

February

2024

CONCURSO FOTOGRAFÍA VALLE DE LECRÍN

¡Participa en este concurso de fotografía y captura la belleza de nuestro Valle de Lecrín!

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01

December

2023

I Conference on rural women in rural areas. Confinanced Project 2023-Diputación de Granada.

I Conference on women in rural areas. Provincial Programme of Economic Support for Non-Profit Organisations. Project co-financed by the Diputación Provincial de Granada. Call for proposals 2023.

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10

November

2023

IX GASTRONOMIC DAYS OF THE VALLEY OF LECRÍN "LA HUELLA MOZÁRABE".

From 24 November to 3 December the IX Gastronomic Days of the Lecrín Valley await you.

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03

November

2023

Premios IX Jornadas Gastronómicas del Valle de Lecrín

La Asociación de Turismo del Valle de Lecrín dará un total de 11 premios de 100€ cada uno de ellos a los participantes en las IX Jornadas Gastronómicas del Valle de Lecrín.

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06

March

2023

Active tourism in El Pinar: hiking trails

Discover the impressive hiking trails you can practice in El Pinar.

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28

July

2016

El Castillo de Zoraya en Mondújar

THE CASTLE OF ZORAYA IN MONDÚJAR There was a time when the Nasrid Sultan Muley Hacen reigned in Granada, back in the 15th century. In one of his battles against the Christians, the king met a beautiful Christian whom he took captive to the Alhambra and fell madly in love with her. TO…

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31

March

2024

III JORNADAS TURISMO ACTIVO VALLE DE LECRÍN

Consulta la programación de las III Jornadas de Turismo Activo del Valle de Lecrín que tendrán lugar los próximos 18 y 19 de abril en la nave F.E.V.E. de Padul.

25

February

2024

CONCURSO FOTOGRAFÍA VALLE DE LECRÍN

¡Participa en este concurso de fotografía y captura la belleza de nuestro Valle de Lecrín!

01

December

2023

I Conference on rural women in rural areas. Confinanced Project 2023-Diputación de Granada.

I Conference on women in rural areas. Provincial Programme of Economic Support for Non-Profit Organisations. Project co-financed by the Diputación Provincial de Granada. Call for proposals 2023.

17

November

2023

Jornada de la mujer en el medio rural

Te esperamos en la jornada de visibilización del papel de la mujer en el medio rural que tendrá lugar en el Centro de Día de Dúrcal el próximo 23 de noviembre.

10

November

2023

IX GASTRONOMIC DAYS OF THE VALLEY OF LECRÍN "LA HUELLA MOZÁRABE".

From 24 November to 3 December the IX Gastronomic Days of the Lecrín Valley await you.

03

November

2023

Premios IX Jornadas Gastronómicas del Valle de Lecrín

La Asociación de Turismo del Valle de Lecrín dará un total de 11 premios de 100€ cada uno de ellos a los participantes en las IX Jornadas Gastronómicas del Valle de Lecrín.

Sitios de Interés

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Stone Bridge

It was built in the middle of the 19th century. At that time, the old royal roads were replaced by more modern and wider roads, where carriages could pass. 

This stone bridge was built in the narrowest area of the valley due to the difficulties that even in the last century presented a work of passage. In the same way, not only looking for economy but also for the volume of the work, it is the road that is totally subjected to the bridge and not the other way around, as we will see in the more modern ones, due to the fact that the criteria until very recently has been to economize in civil work even if the route of the road resisted (with difficult entrance curves and more or less pronounced access slopes). It has a roadway of 7 meters strict, without verges, and the N 323 passed through it until the construction of the prestressed bridge in 1980.

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The Padul Wetland

This privileged place is located on the southwestern slope of the Sierra Nevada massif, just 1 km from the centre of Padul. 

Its natural importance makes it a protected area of the Natural Park of Sierra Nevada, with an area of nearly 300 hectares. The largest is made up of farmland and approximately 60 hectares are waterlogged and covered with marshy vegetation. 

In addition, its great interest and environmental importance has given it such unique cataloguing as a Special Protection Area for Birds, a protected area of the Sierra Nevada National Park and a Wetland of International Importance under the RAMSAR agreement.

Thousands of birds pass through this wetland every year during periods of migration. This makes birding tourism lovers find an invaluable destination where to practice bird watching. The diversity in the Padul wetland means that up to 200 different bird species can be observed throughout the year.

This privileged place has great importance from the ecological, scientific and landscape point of view. It also has a peculiar peat bog, the southernmost in Europe, where in 1982 mammoth remains and other prehistoric animals were discovered.

Following the appearance of these remains, the mammoth has become an image and symbol of the municipality, creating a multitude of products and services with the brand of the mammoth, as well as even recreating this prehistoric animal on a real scale. You will find it next to the Padul Town Hall and in the surroundings of the prehistoric animal park.

The most accessible and respectful way to discover it is through its three prehistoric routes, the Mammoth Route, the Woolly Rhino Route and the Sabre-toothed Tiger Route. 

Download here the guide of the Prehistoric Routes

Are you coming to discover Padul's wetland?

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Castle of Zoraya in Mondujar

This castle was owned by Muley Hacen. He had it built as a wedding present for Zoraya (Isabel de Solís). Nearby, in the old Mondújar cemetery, it is believed that the royal Nasrid cemetery was located. Other cemeteries have recently been discovered in the vicinity, during the construction of the highway and a housing estate.
The castle follows the Nasrid scheme from the mid-14th century. According to the book by J. María S. Osuna, the plan of the castle was structured in a disorderly and capricious way (irregular polygon) to adapt to the terrain.
There are the remains of a large cistern with interior dimensions of 7.50 x 4.80 meters, built with lime concrete walls that preserve the plaster and the remains of red almagra. It was covered with a masonry vault of which some remains can be seen, especially in its northeast corner, where its intersection can be observed with another small pointed vault that covered the passage through which, from inside the fortress. The cistern was accessed to catch the water as a horizontal curb.

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Zayas Palace

Throught the entrance gate we arrive to the first patio where we admire its Renaissance portal, the royal balcony and the noble coat of arms that culminates the façade. Next we enter the palace itself through a hallway, where we admire two monumental ceramic jars embedded in the ground and with the signatures or anagrams of the artisans who made them. We pass to the central square patio with Doric-style Sierra Elvira marble columns and Albuñuelas pine wooden footings that support the beams and coffered ceilings of the upper corridor. From here we can go up the royal Mudejar-style staircase decorated with small and old tiles made by hand and embedded between the tiles. On the upper floor we can see some magnificent carved cabinets as well as some very beautiful collection fans. The current distribution is as follows: on the ground floor, offices and social room for the elderly; and in the upper one, plenary hall, mayor's office and councilors' offices. In the center of the patio we have a Granada-style fountain that gives great musicality to this space.
 
From this courtyard we go to the French-style garden, where its magnificent borders of boxwoods, the formidable magnolia trees, as well as the ancient specimens of false acacias, conifers and centenary Jupiters, irrigated by the water of its elegant fountains are to be admired... There is a good specimen of strawberry tree, as well as the hundred-year-old holm oak from the adjoining orchard.

 

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"La Erilla" Oil Mill

Donated by María Antonia Zayas Osorio Covalche, its state of conservation is very good, due to its restoration in 1991.
This oil mill, located in the urban area, has been in operation since the 15th century until the second decade of the 20th century. It preserves the machinery and it is a good example of the different types of mills that have been used throughout history.

At the entrance there is a haulage yard, in which there are some small dens for the olives (trojes or arrojes). In a first room we can still see an example of a blood mill, of Roman origin, which was moved by the force of an animal, in an anti-clockwise direction.
 
The La Erilla mill was moved by the driving force of water, coming from the ditch that descends from the Partidor de la Pavilla.
The oil was collected in the "pozuelos" under the settling beams. The pressing process takes longer than milling and the master miller's assistants, numbering two in number, continued to work through the night. They slept on "chillas" (raised bunks off the ground).
 
The solid residue (pomace) served as fuel and food for domestic animals. The oil is very sensitive to oxygenation and ages easily. It must be stored well covered and in a cool place. For this reason, in the mill there are jars embedded in the ground to preserve it for longer.

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Church of Saint Mary in Padul

This Church was built in 16th century. Its first stones and ashlars began to be laid in the year 1540 by the architect Juan Ajofrin and his son. Later it was finished by Jerónimo García.
 
One of the curiosities of this place is that before being a church it was the Greater Mosque. Between the years 1559 and 1565, through a series of renovations, this space was adapted to the new Christian worship.
 
On the portico of the main entrance we can see the seated statue of Santa María la Mayor, patron saint and protector of the temple and the town. This portico was designed by the master stonemason Gaspar de Muriel and he built it in 1559.
 
In the early morning of August 21, in 1569, it dawned in Padul when an army of 2,000 Moors tried to reconquer the town, because Castilian kings broke the pact regarding beliefs, clothing and customs. These Moors deceived the detachment of soldiers that defended the fortress mounted in this square and, above all, the clueless lookout who, from the tower, scanned the horizon looking towards Dúrcal.
 
From there they waited for the coming of the Moors, but them, as good strategists, they walked overnight from Las Albuñuelas and sacked our town through the Humilladero (La Cruz de Santa Elena), located at the entrance to the town from Granada. That night there was a fierce fight, blood, fires and deaths.
 
The Santa María la Mayor Church houses large altarpieces inside, some from the 16th century and due to the characteristics of the paintings, they are probably from the son of Pedro Machuca (Luis) or Juan de Palenque.
 
This church houses most of the images that walk throught Padul during Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. This Holy Week in Padul is classified as a Festival of Tourist Interest in Andalusia.
 
Next to this church there is a beautiful and spacious square, where two crosses are located. The most famous of the crosses in Padul, is the Cruz de los Bubujones located in the Plaza de la Iglesia, which owes its name to the bubbles or bulges sculpted on the body and arms of the cross. It is said that, during the days of Lent, in which fasting and abstinence had to be kept, a good woman went to the mass of the offices of Good Friday, and for violating that purpose, when leaving the church, the cross swallowed her. This frightened woman began elbowing, kicking, and kneeing with all her might to escape from inside the cross. And that's when those lumps came out. This kind of legends demonstrate the evolution and feelings of people.
 
In total, seventeen precious Crosses are located in the streets of Padul as a sign and symbol of the religious faith of its inhabitants since ancient times.
 
Some of them and the best known are:
Mission Cross.
Watchtower Cross.
Cross of the Crossroads.
Cross of the Molinas.
Cross of the Asomadillo.

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