Logbook · 10 places

What to see and do in Navalcán

What to see and do in Navalcán (La Campana de Oropesa, Toledo): 10 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 4 Monuments · 1 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Navalcán

Ethnographic Museum of Navalcán 200 m
Reservoir of Navalcán 3.9 km

Towns near Navalcán

What to see in Parrillas 2.7 km · 7 places
What to see in Poyales del Hoyo 13 km · 3 places
What to see in Montesclaros 14 km · 5 places
What to see in Velada 14 km · 17 places
What to see in Arenas de San Pedro 16 km · 6 places
What to see in Torralba de Oropesa 16 km · 6 places
What to see in Candeleda 16 km · 6 places
What to see in Guisando 18 km · 6 places

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Toledo › La Campana de Oropesa › Navalcán

What to see and do in Navalcán

Navalcán
Village
Municipality of the comarca of La Campana de Oropesa, in the province of Toledo, whose place name would derive from Nava del Can, the flat ground between hills, and which, being a pastoral hamlet of the lordship of Oropesa, bought its jurisdiction and became a town of royal jurisdiction in 1653; its reservoir, built in 1977 on the river Guadyerbas and declared a wildlife refuge in 1996, hosts waterbirds and wintering cranes and gives rise to a signposted birdwatching route, and its ethnographic museum preserves the village's traditional embroidered costume.
Church of Nuestra Señora del Monte
Monument
The church of Nuestra Señora del Monte is the parish church of Navalcán (La Campana de Oropesa, Toledo) and its main religious monument. It preserves a carving of the Cristo de la Viga, from the 14th century, one of the oldest pieces of the town's religious heritage.
Hermitage of San Pedro Apóstol
Monument
Hermitage located on the outskirts, north of Navalcán, one of the heritage elements that mark the old cattle droving routes of the municipality. It is popularly known as the hermitage of the Venerable Isabel, after the local tradition that this woman was born at the site now occupied by the hermitage.
Roman bridges of Navalcán
Monument
The municipal district preserves bridges of Roman construction linked to the roads and drovers' routes that crossed this passage between the mountains and the plain.
Reservoir of Navalcán
Nature
Reservoir built in 1977 on the Guadyerbas river, between the districts of Navalcán, Parrillas and Oropesa, most of whose surface area lies within the municipality of Oropesa, with 493 of the roughly 720 total hectares. It was declared a wildlife refuge in 1996 and, together with the SPA and SCI in which it is integrated, protects holm oak and cork oak dehesas that shelter birds of prey such as the Spanish imperial eagle, the black stork, Bonelli's eagle and the golden eagle. In September its water is used to refill the Rosarito reservoir and so complete the Tiétar irrigation campaign, a river that also supplies the municipalities of La Campana de Oropesa when it does not carry enough flow. Popular with cyprinid anglers, swimming is not allowed because of the danger of its currents.
Trail of las aves de Navalcán
Activity
Signposted route around the Navalcán reservoir, declared a Wildlife Refuge in 1996 and protected as a Special Protection Area for Birds and a Site of Community Importance, which allows visitors to observe waterbirds and Mediterranean forest birds of prey such as the black stork, the peregrine falcon, the Spanish imperial eagle, Bonelli's eagle and the short-toed eagle, amid holm oak and cork oak dehesas, woodland, scrubland and pastures.
Nava del Can
Curiosity
The place name is thought to derive from Nava del Can: nava denotes a flat area between hills, while can may come from the Latin canem or from pre-Roman roots meaning stone or rock.
Sor Isabel de Jesús
Curiosity
The Augustinian nun Sor Isabel de Jesús (1586-1648), author of a celebrated spiritual autobiography, was born in Navalcán, which obtained the title of villa in 1653.
The 1653 town charter of Navalcán
Historical milestone
A pastoral hamlet included in the seigneury that Enrique II granted to García Álvarez de Toledo in 1366, Navalcán bought its jurisdiction and became a villa of royal jurisdiction in 1653, thus leaving the control of the counts of Oropesa.
Ethnographic Museum of Navalcán
Monument
The Ethnographic Museum of Navalcán, opened in 2013 and municipally owned, brings together the household goods, farming tools and traditional dress of a village that lived off livestock and transhumance, with quilting and different types of embroidery typical of the region. It highlights embroidered women's clothing, related to that of Lagartera but with solutions and colours of its own to the skirt of the Gredos. The museum also holds a series of reproductions of 1954 photographs titled Representación de una boda navalqueña (Depiction of a Navalcán Wedding), the work of the photographer Inge Morath, wife of Arthur Miller, which portray the traditional customs of the village in the mid-20th century.