Logbook · 10 places

What to see and do in El Real de San Vicente

What to see and do in El Real de San Vicente (Sierra de San Vicente, Toledo): 10 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

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

How far each place is from the centre of El Real de San Vicente

Church of Santa Catalina de El Real de San Vicente 400 m

Towns near El Real de San Vicente

Spain › Castilla-La Mancha › Toledo › Sierra de San Vicente › El Real de San Vicente

What to see and do in El Real de San Vicente

El Real de San Vicente
Village
Municipality of the comarca of Sierra de San Vicente, in the province of Toledo, which became a town in 1631 after paying 1,500 ducats to the marquess of Montesclaros, on whose lordship it depended; above the village extend chestnut woods, Pyrenean oak woods and junipers that gave the fruit with which these villages replaced bread in winter, alongside terraces of cherries and sour cherries, and it preserves the mineral-medicinal baths of the Fuente de la Pólvora, in operation since 1900, and the ribbon dance known as the Tejetecordó.
Church of Santa Catalina de El Real de San Vicente
Monument
The church of Santa Catalina in El Real de San Vicente is a Baroque parish temple from the 17th and 18th centuries, with a nave divided into five bays by attached pillars. Inside it preserves four polychrome wood sculptures from the 18th century by Luis Salvador Carmona, among which the Virgen de los Dolores stands out for its beauty.
Mills of la Tejea
Monument
Group of four preindustrial mills stepped along the Tejea gorge, in operation until the mid-20th century. Three have a small storage pool beforehand and grind with a single millstone; the fourth, however, has two millstones and two floors, with the dwelling on the upper floor and the milling on the lower one.
Spring of los Veneruelos
Monument
Fuente de los Veneruelos, a Baroque fountain-trough from the 17th century and one of the most characteristic urban features of El Real de San Vicente. It is built of large stone ashlars, with a triangular pediment, a plain tympanum and a cross-shaped crowning. Its three spouts pour water into an elongated stone trough set at the foot of the fountain.
Baths of the Fuente de la Pólvora
Monument
Former spa of El Real de San Vicente (Toledo) in operation since 1900, testimony to the mountain thermal-bathing tradition. It offered cold and hot baths of mineral-medicinal waters considered beneficial for rheumatic ailments; the name Pólvora comes from the smell the water gave off.
Chestnut groves of El Real de San Vicente
Nature
Stands of chestnut trees, Pyrenean oaks and junipers covering the slopes of the Sierra de San Vicente above the village, especially striking in autumn. El Real de San Vicente sits on this mountain range at an altitude of between 751 and 800 metres; a historical description of the municipal area also records walnut trees, olive trees, mulberry trees and vineyards among the woodland and crops of the surrounding area.
El Tejetecordó, the ribbon dance
Curiosity
Traditional ribbon dance preserved in the town, performed alongside the danza redonda accompanied by a tambourine, within the Castilian folklore of the sierra.
The town charter of El Real de San Vicente
Historical milestone
The place became a villa in 1631 after paying 1,500 ducats to the marquis of Montesclaros, on whose seigneury it depended. With the privilege it obtained its own jurisdiction over a district of chestnut groves, mills and orchards on the slope of the sierra.
The chestnut of the sierra
Food and drink
The chestnut groves of the northern slope give the fruit that for centuries replaced bread in the winter of these towns. They are eaten roasted on the autumn fires and go into stews and sweets, besides being sold fresh in the comarca.
The cherries and sour cherries of El Real
Food and drink
The agrarian inventories of the nineteenth century already cited cherries, sour cherries and peaches among the products of the district, favoured by the altitude and the water of the gorges. Fruit trees still occupy the terraces above the town.