Village
Municipality of the comarca of Montes de Ciudad Real, in the province of Ciudad Real, in whose hills the Ministry of Defence planned a firing and bombing range at the beginning of the 1980s: opposition from residents and scientists halted the plan and led to the declaration of Cabañeros as a nature park in 1988. In the district extends the Torre de Abraham reservoir, on the Bullaque, surrounded by Mediterranean scrub, and on the façade of its church of San Bartolomé Apóstol a Roman granite stele is preserved set into the wall; on the night of 12 December la Luminaria is lit, a great communal bonfire of rosemary.
Monument
A church with a single longitudinal nave, a square apse and a wooden roof. Set into its façade is a partially legible Roman granite stele.
Monument
The Castillo del Milagro is an old fortification or watchtower located in the municipality of Retuerta del Bullaque (Ciudad Real), in the Montes de Ciudad Real. It has a square shape with rounded corners. It was built in 1213 by order of the Archbishop of Toledo Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, in order to halt Almohad incursions towards Toledo during the Reconquest war.
Monument
The Castillo de Prim, residence of General Juan Prim in the municipality of Retuerta del Bullaque (Ciudad Real), is today a private property that cannot be visited. In 1857, during his journey through Spain, Pope Pius IX made a brief stop there to rest and regain his strength while travelling from Seville to the archiepiscopal see of Toledo.
Nature
The Torre de Abraham reservoir, in the municipality of Retuerta del Bullaque (Ciudad Real), is fed by the río Bullaque and its tributary the Milagro, within the Guadiana basin, and is surrounded by Mediterranean woodland. With a capacity of 184 cubic hectometres, it has kept its current configuration since 1997, after a heightening of the original dam that added 97,000 m³ of concrete to the roughly 198,000 m³ initially built. The dam, a straight gravity dam, reaches 34.5 metres in height above the riverbed and 481 metres in crest length, with a fixed-crest spillway of eleven bays. It is a regular spot for fishing, nature photography and birdwatching routes.
Nature
The río Bullaque, a right-bank tributary of the Guadiana, rises at 1,043 metres above sea level on the cerro Laguna, in the sierra del Chorito, within the municipal boundary of Retuerta del Bullaque, in the very heart of the Montes de Toledo. From its source it runs for 91 kilometres before flowing into the Guadiana, at the site of Las Juntas, in Luciana, after also crossing the municipalities of Porzuna, El Robledo and Piedrabuena. Along its course, pools called tablas form, where water lilies and rushes grow and species such as the kingfisher, the otter and the Iberian newt live, indicators of the good quality of its waters. A stretch of its headwaters lies within Cabañeros National Park.
Curiosity
A stone weighing about a hundred kilos found in 1980 in Retuerta del Bullaque went unidentified for decades, even being used to press hams, until it was scientifically classified as a meteorite.
Activity
A great communal bonfire of rosemary lit on the night of 12 December in Retuerta del Bullaque, accompanied by traditional singing and hot chocolate with churros.
Activity
The pilgrimage of the Virgen del Cerro is held in Retuerta del Bullaque (Ciudad Real) on the second weekend of May. On Saturday afternoon the Virgin is carried up from the church of San Bartolomé to the Cerro hermitage, and on Sunday the return journey is made, with the women of the village carrying the image on their shoulders down to the source of the río Bullaque. The origin of the tradition is attributed to four women who once carried the Virgin in this way to the source of the river.
Historical milestone
At the beginning of the eighties the Ministry of Defence planned a firing and bombing range over the hills of Cabañeros. Opposition from residents and from scientists halted the plan and led to the area being declared a natural park in 1988.
Food and drink
The red-legged partridge of the shoots of the Montes is preserved in a marinade of vinegar, oil, garlic and bay leaf, and is eaten cold or warm with its own jelly. It is the classic use of small game in the towns of the Bullaque.