Logbook · 6 places

What to see and do in Torralba

What to see and do in Torralba (La Alcarria Conquense, Cuenca): 6 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 2 Curiosities · 1 Food and drink

Towns near Torralba

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Cuenca › La Alcarria Conquense › Torralba

What to see and do in Torralba

Torralba
Village
Municipality of the comarca of La Alcarria Conquense, in the province of Cuenca, set on the course of the historic Wool Route, which linked Valencia with Burgos, and whose name comes from the tower whose ruins crown a hill riddled with more than two hundred wine caves, fifteen of them open to visitors. It preserves the chapel of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, a basilican temple of three naves of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries with frescoes of popular inspiration and a Baroque main altarpiece, and it remembers the Olma del Concejo, the council elm beneath which justice was administered in medieval times until Dutch elm disease killed it in 2009.
Castle of Torralba
Monument
The castle of Torralba, of Arab origin, is today a ruin known as Torre Alba, which gave the village its name. It stands atop a hill riddled with more than two hundred wine-cellar caves, typical of the district of La Alcarria Conquense, fifteen of which can be visited. The castle is thought to have fallen into ruin during the French invasion. The caves, set in its surroundings, are today Torralba's hallmark.
Hermitage of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves de Torralba
Monument
The hermitage of Nuestra Señora de las Nieves (Our Lady of the Snows) of Torralba (La Alcarria Conquense, Cuenca) is a basilical church of the 15th and 16th centuries, with three naves covered by groin vaults, an apse and chapels; the largest of the chapels retains frescoes of popular inspiration. Its interior, with exposed timber over octagonal stone pillars with carved capitals, includes a polychrome spindle-wood screen that separates the main chapel and the side chapels from the rest. It preserves a Baroque main altarpiece, abundant statuary and a baptismal font. On the outside it has side and front doorways in late Gothic style, a gabled roof and a two-bell gable-wall belfry at its foot. Tradition links the church with three Marian images said to have been sent from Rome by Cardinal Gil de Albornoz.
The Elm of the Concejo
Curiosity
The elm under which justice was administered in medieval times stood in the centre of Torralba's plaza Mayor, where its size rivalled the tower of the Town Hall. For centuries it presided over the life of the village as a symbol of the old council jurisdiction, until Dutch elm disease killed it in 2009.
Torralba on the Wool Route
Curiosity
The municipality lies on the route of the historic Ruta de la Lana, which linked Valencia with Burgos along medieval roads. There were Roman selenite mines in its municipal district.
Alcarria-style lamb caldereta
Food and drink
Stew of lamb cut into pieces cooked with its own pounded offal, garlic, paprika, bay leaf and wine, slowly and in an earthenware pot. It is the dish of the festivities and of the slaughter days in the livestock-raising villages of the Alcarria.