Logbook · 15 places

What to see and do in Mestanza

What to see and do in Mestanza (Sierra Morena, Ciudad Real): 15 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 4 Nature · 2 Activities · 2 Curiosities · 2 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

When to go to Mestanza: festival calendar

May: Pilgrimage of el Voto (last Sunday of May)
July: Festivities of San Pantaleón (24 al 29 de julio)

How far each place is from the centre of Mestanza

Reservoir of Montoro 5.1 km
Volcanic Lagoon of La Alberquilla 5.2 km

Towns near Mestanza

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Ciudad Real › Sierra Morena › Mestanza

What to see and do in Mestanza

Mestanza
Village
Municipality of the comarca of Sierra Morena, in the province of Ciudad Real, taken according to the chronicles in 1086 by the troops of Alfonso VI and with the remains of an Andalusi castle above the houses. Its district preserves an extensive heritage of argentiferous lead mining, with workings such as La Gitana or the Diógenes mines, which sustained the local economy from Roman times until the closure of 1979, as well as the volcanic lagoon of La Alberquilla, lodged in a crater and declared a Natural Monument, and the Montoro reservoir, built in the mid-twentieth century to supply the industry of Puertollano and raised in 2008.
Church of San Esteban Protomártir
Monument
A parish church of 16th-century origin, rebuilt in 1828 with a single nave. It was raised in the original core of the town, on the site of the old mosque of the Berber settlement.
Hermitage of Nuestra Señora de la Antigua
Monument
A sanctuary that keeps a 14th-century carving of the Virgin, patron saint of the town. It is the destination of the Romería del Voto, the main devotional event of the municipality.
Rock Paintings of La Tabernera and Río Frío
Monument
Groups of schematic rock painting located at La Tabernera, the Callejones de Río Frío and the Collado del Pajonar, listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection).
Palaeolithic Site of Puente Mercedes
Nature
A site next to the outlying village of El Hoyo where Acheulean and Mousterian stone tool industries have been documented, evidence of Palaeolithic settlement in the valley.
Reservoir of Montoro
Nature
A dam on the River Montoro opened in the mid-20th century to supply the industry of Puertollano and raised in 2008, tripling its capacity. Its shores are surrounded by holm oak woods and Mediterranean scrub.
Volcanic Lagoon of La Alberquilla
Nature
The volcanic lagoon of La Alberquilla occupies the interior of a maar, the only volcanic outcrop in the area, formed by a hydromagmatic explosion that left small pyroclastic deposits on its western and southern edges, among ridges of Ordovician quartzite and slate. It is the only lagoon of volcanic origin in the region that sits perched atop a quartzite sierra, on privately owned land within the municipal area of Mestanza. It gained the status of Natural Monument in October 1999, when the decree was published in the Official Gazette of Castilla-La Mancha, and the protected area covers 111 hectares. It is one of the manifestations of the volcanism of Campo de Calatrava within the natural park.
Fresnedas River and its valleys
Nature
A watercourse that runs through the municipal district gathering the waters of the rivers Ojailén and Montoro. Its banks and its holm oak slopes make up one of the characteristic landscapes of the municipality.
A name of Berber origin
Curiosity
The place name Mestanza derives from Mistasa, a Berber tribe that settled in the area during the Andalusi period. The original centre grew up around a mosque and a fortress that commanded the valley.
The argentiferous lead mines
Curiosity
The municipal district preserves an extensive mining heritage with workings such as the La Gitana complex, the Encinarejo mine and the headframe of the Las Pozas mines. Extraction went on from Roman times until the closure of the Diógenes mines in 1979.
Festivities of San Pantaleón
Activity
Summer patronal festivals in honour of San Pantaleón, with religious events, verbenas and popular activities over several days. They are held between 24 and 29 July, around the day of the patron saint.
Pilgrimage of el Voto
Activity
The Romería del Voto, known in Mestanza as El Voto, is held on the last Sunday of May. In it the image of the Virgin of la Antigua is carried in procession to its hermitage, on the outskirts of the village, in fulfilment of a historic vow of the town whose exact origin is not recorded in the municipality's entry.
The conquest of Alfonso VI
Historical milestone
The chronicles place in 1086 the taking of Mestanza by the troops of Alfonso VI, in the Castilian advance on the passes of Sierra Morena. From the Andalusi period there remain the ruins of a castle above the present settlement.
The Diógenes mines
Historical milestone
The working of argentiferous galena known as the Diógenes mines sustained the district's economy for decades and closed definitively in 1979. With it there died out an activity that had drawn in companies and outside labour.
Mountain goat cheese
Food and drink
The goats that graze in the gall oak woods and rockrose scrub of the sierra give a milk with which pressed-curd cheeses are made, fresh or cured in oil. It is a product tied to the extensive stock-raising that has sustained these towns.