Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Sot de Chera

What to see and do in Sot de Chera (Los Serranos, Valencia): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 2 Nature · 1 Activities

When to go to Sot de Chera: festival calendar

August: Patron Saint Festivities of Sot de Chera (August 15-20)

How far each place is from the centre of Sot de Chera

Towns near Sot de Chera

What to see in Chulilla 4 km · 8 places
What to see in Chera 6.2 km · 5 places
What to see in Gestalgar 6.8 km · 9 places
What to see in Losa del Obispo 8.9 km · 4 places
What to see in Bugarra 12 km · 2 places
What to see in Calles 13 km · 2 places
What to see in Villar del Arzobispo 14 km · 9 places
What to see in Pedralba 16 km · 2 places

Spain › Valencian Community › Valencia › Los Serranos › Sot de Chera

What to see and do in Sot de Chera

Sot de Chera
Village
Sot de Chera is a Spanish-speaking municipality of the comarca of Los Serranos, in the province of Valencia, with 427 inhabitants. It is crossed by the Sot, or Reatillo, river, a tributary of the Turia, cut into a rocky system that shapes a landscape where natural pools have been developed. The terrain, very rugged, ranges between 250 and 950 meters above sea level, over a Jurassic anticline that has given rise to a karst landscape with dolines, sinkholes, caves and lapiaz, as well as fossils known as the Margas de Sot de Chera. This geological singularity led to the declaration of the Chera-Sot de Chera natural park, the first geological park in the Valencian Community, with springs traditionally considered medicinal, such as that of Santa María or that of Tío Fausto.
Castle of Sot de Chera
Monument
The castle of Sot de Chera stands on a promontory at the centre of the town, in what is now the Castillo quarter, overlooking the River Sot. Of uncertain origin —the most widely accepted hypothesis points to an eleventh-century Arab alquería (farmstead) that would eventually be fortified— it retains walls, Iberian pottery and underground tunnels. James I granted the alquería, together with Chera, to Hurtado de Lihori in 1238; the holding remained in his family until around 1371. Its position on the border with Castile gave it strategic importance, as a meeting point of routes towards Chulilla, Gestalgar and Siete Aguas. After the war of 1429 it was devastated and occupied; returned to Alfonso the Magnanimous, it passed to the Mont Palau family, who in 1540 granted a founding charter to resettle the area. Protected as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) since 1949.
Hermitage of San Roque de Sot de Chera
Monument
The hermitage of San Roque, dedicated to the patron saint of Sot de Chera (Valencia), stands on a promontory about 500 metres from the village, beside the local road. It is a single-nave Renaissance building, built in 1592, although a bricked-up side door bears the date 1591. Its small bell, from 1802, carries older engravings, typical of the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. Since the end of the civil war a permanent flame burned there, tended daily by a local woman, today replaced by candles kept continuously lit; one of the keys to the building is passed daily from house to house, available to the whole neighbourhood. Around the hermitage there is an esplanade with views over the valley, used for pilgrimages and local festivals.
Church of San Sebastián de Sot de Chera
Monument
The church of San Sebastián is the parish church of Sot de Chera (Valencia), located in the old town, with its façade on Calle San Sebastián and a side door onto Plaza Juan de Juanes; it belongs to the Archdiocese of Valencia and is listed as a Bien de Relevancia Local (a local-level heritage designation, below BIC). It dates from the seventeenth century, specifically 1690, in Neoclassical style, with a single nave covered by a barrel vault, side chapels and a choir loft above the entrance. At the head of the church a Neoclassical stucco altarpiece is preserved, and inside, a polychrome and gilded wooden tabernacle-triptych attributed to Juan de Juanes, from the mid-sixteenth century. The square bell tower houses four bells. In 2012 the church's original paintings, hidden under whitewash, were restored.
Las Toscas of Sot de Chera
Nature
Petrifying spring with waterfalls and travertine formations along the River Sot, in Sot de Chera, the first geological park in Spain thanks to its Jurassic anticline.
El Charco El Gruñidor
Nature
El Charco El Gruñidor is a natural pool on the course of the Sot river, which runs for about twelve kilometres through the municipality of Sot de Chera and also forms other nearby beauty spots such as Las Fuentes and La Canal. It serves as a walking spot in winter and a bathing area in summer, one of the municipality's main tourist attractions.
Patron Saint Festivities of Sot de Chera
Activity
The patron saint festivities of Sot de Chera are held between 13 and 20 August in honour of several saints: the Assumption on the 15th, Saint Roch on the 16th (main patron), Our Lady of Sorrows on the 17th, Saint Anne on the 18th and Our Lady of the Forsaken on the 19th. The processions set out from the church of San Sebastián and follow a fixed route amid tracas firecrackers. On the 16th there is a pilgrimage to the hermitage of San Roque with Mass and a communal meal; on the 18th, an auction of traditional dishes and the chicken game in the square, with residents dressed in a white shirt, coloured waistcoat and albarcas sandals. On the night of the 15th, the night of paellas is celebrated in Barón de Monpalau street.