Priego de Córdoba

A recent poll on the "TripAdvisor" tourism website and mentioned on the Sangria, Sol y Siesta blog (see the "Blogs we like" section of our blog) positioned Priego de Córdoba at number nine in the top fifteen most beautiful villages in Spain. So at about 9am this morning we were on the road heading east from Olvera to see if the poll rating was justified. (Our route here)  

After a drive of just under two hours, we arrived in the town and parked fairly easily at the underground car park of Mercadona, also for use as a public car park. We headed to the Ayuntamiento, pictured above, where a little prior research indicated that the Tourist Office was located.

Armed with a map and a lot of brochures and information from the very helpful chap in the office, we headed to the old historic part of town.

As we ventured on, our first impressions were of a clean, well cared for town with quite a few bars and restaurants offering shade from the 28°C heat.

After a short while we came to the 18th century Church of the Asunción and popped inside for a look.

The architecture and decorative plaster mouldings were stunningly beautiful.

The narrow, winding streets and small squares of the old town were a joy to walk around.

The displays of flowers simply beautiful. 

 

We sat for a while at the "Balcon de Adarve" that offers views over the countryside below. Sorry, for some reason I didn't take any pictures

The fountains in the pleasant Paseo de Colombia

After finishing our tour of the old town we headed to the "Fuente del Rey", a magnificent fountain with 139 spouts, set in a shady park area.

In the same park is the "Fuente de la Salud".

My faithful travel companions.

The spire of the "Iglesia del Carmen" with its statue of the Prophet Elias atop its dome.

Walking around the walls of the old castle.

Once, no doubt a grand cinema. Now, underground garages and apartments.

Well, did we consider Priego worthy of being in the top fifteen of the vote?. It's certainly a clean, historic and very pretty town, particularly in the old part and clearly there's much more to see than we've shown here, such as its seven museums, bullring and many other Churches. We enjoyed our visit but the best thing to do is visit yourself and make up your own mind. Now, where to next on the list!.