Village
Municipality of the comarca of Montes de Toledo, in the province of Toledo, born of the union of Yébenes de Toledo and Yébenes de San Juan, separated by the Camino Real de Sevilla, which tried to merge in 1822 and did not manage it until a decade later; in its district stands the castle of las Guadalerzas, a twelfth-century fortress with a double walled enclosure linked to the Order of Saint John, and the public estate of Quintos de Mora extends, some 6,800 hectares devoted to the conservation of wildlife.
Nature
A public estate of about 6,800 hectares in the very heart of the Montes de Toledo, within the municipal district of Los Yébenes, devoted to the management and conservation of wildlife, with important populations of deer and wild boar. It takes its name from having traditionally belonged to the town council of Mora, until the State Heritage Board (Patrimonio del Estado) acquired it in 1942. Its terrain, between 1,000 and 1,200 metres in altitude, is arranged in two mountain ranges separated by a central raña plain, through which flows the río de las Navas, a tributary of the Guadiana. Almost half of the surface is scrubland of rockrose, rosemary and strawberry trees, with woods of Pyrenean oak, Portuguese oak and holm oak, and areas replanted with maritime pine and stone pine. Inside it there is a residence that heads of government have used for meetings with foreign leaders.
Monument
The castle of las Guadalerzas is a fortification built by the Arabs at a strategic point to defend the trade route to Córdoba, in the gorge of the Guadalerzas valley, eighteen kilometres from Los Yébenes. After the capture of Toledo by Alfonso VI, it became a contested frontier stronghold between Christians and Muslims, until in the 12th century it passed to the Order of Calatrava, which founded the hospital of Godalferga there; recovered for Castile after the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, it went on housing troops heading south. The precinct, now deteriorated, had a rectangular wall with a tower at each corner and a central parade ground. In the 16th century Philip II sold it to Cardinal Silíceo, who established there the College of Noble Maidens of Toledo.
Monument
A group of windmills on the heights overlooking Los Yébenes, offering wide views over the Montes de Toledo. Two fully restored mills survive, and nearby, already within the municipal district of Orgaz, a third and a fourth stand in ruins. The municipality also preserves old water-regulation infrastructure linked to the area's flour mills.
Curiosity
The name Los Yébenes comes from the Latin geminis, twins, because the municipality was historically made up of two separate settlements: Yébenes de Toledo, to the north and under the jurisdiction of the city of Toledo, and Yébenes de San Juan, to the south and governed by the Order of Saint John, separated by the Camino Real. After several failed attempts at union, between 1833 and 1835 the definitive unification was achieved, putting an end to 564 years of legal and administrative division between the two villages. The municipal coat of arms today recalls that old duality in its heraldic composition.
Activity
The main festival of Los Yébenes in honour of its patron saint, the Virgin of Finibusterre, celebrated from 10 to 14 September with fairs, a procession, religious ceremonies and popular festivities.
Historical milestone
The Madrid to Ciudad Real line reached the district in 1879 and came to have five halts within the municipality, which sent out timber, charcoal and livestock towards the capital. The service was suspended in January 1988.
Historical milestone
In the year 930 Caliph Abderramán III camped with his troops beside the Algodor river, within the present-day municipal area of Los Yébenes, during one of the campaigns to subdue rebellious Toledo. It is the earliest documentary reference to the Andalusi presence in these mountains.
Historical milestone
Yébenes de Toledo and Yébenes de San Juan, separated only by the Camino Real de Sevilla, tried to merge during the Liberal Triennium in 1822. The absolutist reaction undid the agreement the following year and a further decade had to be waited out.
Food and drink
Pieces of pork or lamb fried in their own fat and then refried with garlic, paprika and vinegar. It is a pig-slaughter dish and a street-stall dish, and it is eaten hot and with bread in the taverns of the sierra towns.