A small town beside a large national park.
Sandwiched between the relentless Jaén olive groves and the jagged rocks of the sierra, Cazorla is the principal access point for the natural park. Although some development has given it a certain middle-aged sprawl, its centre is peaceful and attractive, overlooked by two Moorish castles and the jagged limestone bluff of the Peña de los Halcones (Mount of the Falcons). As well as being the main destination for buses, Cazorla is also the place to come for maps, park information, tours and budget accommodation; it makes a pretty base for exploring the ranges.
The centre of urban Cazorla is Plaza de la Constitución, where buses arrive and depart and where arriving motorists spin round the roundabout and double back up the hill towards the natural park. From here, the pedestrianized Calle Doctor Múñoz runs southeast to the attractive Plaza de la Corredera, which is surrounded by some fine buildings. One of these is the Iglesia de San José, a 17th-century church with a somewhat stern gilt retablo and poor 1960s fresco copies of El Greco works. On the other side of the square is Cazorla’s town hall, a 16th-century edifice that was once a monastery.
Further above the town is another castle, named Salvatierra or Las Cinco Esquinas (Five Corners). The latter name derives from the pentagonal shape of its main tower, which is in fact all that survives of the building.
Southwest of Cazorla the road runs on to Quesada, another former Moorish settlement and beyond to the Puerto de Tíscar. This road winds through spectacular rocky scenery, in some places even more impressive than in the park itself. It eventually reaches the town of Baza, on the motorway between Granada to Murcia. It’s a wonderfully remote drive.
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