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Cuevas De San Marcos,
Inland Costa Del Sol, Andalucia, Spain
Cuevas De San Marcos
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The municipality of Cuevas de San Marcos is situated in the northern part of the Antequera region, bordering on the province of Cordoba. The town itself is 360 above sea level and is surrounded by the Sierra del Camorro mountains.
Pre-historic remains found in the Belda cave tell us that the area has been populated for a long time, and was, in fact, an important enclave in Roman and Moorish times. Flint axes, lance points and other stone utensils in the interior of the cave give us some idea of what life was like for these people millions of years ago. Also found here were fossilised human remains and an image in a place known as Las Cruces.
The church of San Marcos is the only building of architectural importance in the town. It was built in the 17th century and reconstructed by Juan de la Reina in 1798 in the late baroque and neoclassical style of the period. The interior has three naves covered in a barrel-vaulted ceiling. The façade on the outside is very imposing, with a bell tower in three sections. The first section of the tower is made of rubble and brick, while to top section is made of brick with a ceramic tiled roof.
Hermitage of El Carmen
This is a religious building from the 18th century, still conserving
its ancient brick tower and ceramic roof tiles. The interior was built with a
single nave.
Cave of Belda
This cave has high ceilings in places and three interior lakes that are easy to
reach, along with enormous columns of rock measuring more than a metre in
diameter. It has one of the most important bat populations in Europe.
Medina de Belda Archaeological site
On the top of the Sierra del Camorro is the site of the medieval town of Belda,
which has been catalogued as a first-grade archaeological site.
In Medina de Belda one can see the structure
of the houses, the streets and the ancient tower, as well as the well-preserved
dungeon. The Local Archaeological Museum houses various pieces found in the area,
dating from the Lower Palaeolithic period to the time of the Nazrid kingdom
FESTIVITIES AND TRADITIONS
The main fair and festivities in the town take place from the 12th to the 15th of August. In September, the 7th and 8th, is Candlemas, common to many towns in the Axarquía. On the 16th of July they celebrate the Virgen del Carmen and the Rosario de la Aurora is an old tradition where some Saturdays of the year they pray at dawn through the town streets with bell ringers.
On the major festivals, the 25th of April, patron saint's day of San Marcos, the town is almost left empty, as the people go to the countryside to "atar el diablo" (tie the devil), which consists in making a knot in a bunch of herbs or cereals without breaking the stalks. The tradition is usually made by all the members of the family who go into the countryside, in this case near the Cordoba reservoir of Iznajar, where everyone indulges in good eating and drinking during the day.
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