Estepa

A visit today to Estepa in the province of Sevilla, a town of approximately 13,000 inhabitants, 75kms (46 miles) and a drive of about an hour and fifteen minutes northeast of Olvera.

We parked quite easily and without any plan or map headed upwards to the castle that we had seen when entering the town.

After a short climb we reached the top of the hill and came to the Iglesia Santa Clara, a 16th century convent, which was unfortunately closed.

However, a gate into the convent courtyard was open and there didn't appear to be any restrictions so I popped in for a look.

The view over the south wall of the castle onto what looked like a cement works below.

The 13th century (recently restored) Alcazaba, again unfortunately closed.

Weary travellers resting on the "Balcón de Andalucia", a natural viewpoint overlooking the town and the Torre de La Victoria.

The view from the Balcón.

We headed down and stopped at the impressive 18th century, 40 metre tall Torre de La Victoria, the most prominent remnant of the former Iglesia de Victoria.

The 16th century Iglesia de San Sebastián here and below.

The very modern Ayuntamiento, here and below, where we found the Tourist Information Office and a very helpful young lady who provided us with a town plan where we could identify the places we had visited.

Another fine building in the pleasant Plaza del Carmen.

After a couple of hours we headed back to the car passing by the Casa del Marqués del Oro.

We liked Estepa. A busy town with a lot of history and clearly we would have explored more if we had obtained a map before wandering around. In our defence however, despite being signposted, it wasn't easy to find the Tourist Office. Also, a shame that so many of the monuments were closed but perhaps that was just an issue of timing.

Before leaving town we stopped at this bar, the Seville supporters club of Estepa, for what turned out to be a delicious lunch of pinchos (pork on a skewer) and solomillo con roquefort (pork steak with cheese sauce). Absolutely delicious and worth returning to Estepa just for this.