Routes and Itineraries.

Depending on your tastes and preferences, there are various walks around the town to get to know Cortegana through the different heritage sites that we are blessed with:

• HISTORICAL BUILDINGS WALK: This consists of a route taking in the main heritage sites of Cortegana, which have extraordinary architectural beauty and important historical, artistic and architectural value. From churches and chapels, stately and ancestral homes, the bullring or social clubs to the Castle, an emblem of cultural identity for all Cortegana’s residents, this walk is a look back at the historical past of our town, through the most representative buildings that have followed its urban development through to its current aspect.

Route: Ermita del Calvario, Ermita de San Sebastián, Bullring, ancestral homes in Doctor Caballero y García Lorca streets, Plaza and church Divino Salvador, Gran Casino, Plaza de la Constitución, Nuevo Casino, Castle and Ermita de Nuestra Señora de la Piedad. 

• WALK AROUND THE WATER POINTS AND SPRINGS: Water and its use have been fundamental in configuring the current shape of this town. In fact the genesis and development of the urban tract seem to have come about around some of the springs included in this walk. The benefits of water have a special relationship with Cortegana and it can be said that they constituted sociable spaces and traditional meeting places, where water played a major part. They also possess important cultural value in generating  a focus for identity and a collective conscience, forming part of the ethnic heritage which is worth recognising.
  

Route: Fuente Vieja, Fuente del Callejón, Fuente de la Caja, Fuente de El Santo, Fuente del Altozano, Fuente del Chanza, source of  the Chanza river, Fuente Monumental del Prado.

• PHOTOGRAPHIC WALK: This walk offers a journey including various places which show unique perspectives of Cortegana or some of its main heritage elements. They represent ideal points for capturing those moments that immortalise a visit to our community.

Route:  Sargento Benítez, San Sebastián streets, Chanza alley, García Lorca-Romero Rabana, Paymogo streets, Camino de Cazalla Sevilla street and Calle Alta. 

• VIEWPOINTS WALK: In a town with so many ups and downs and different levels, viewpoints represent interesting spaces to contemplate our cultural landscape. Shaped by the town itself, they offer spectacular panoramas of the urban area which appear perfectly integrated in their natural surroundings. Furthermore, you can enjoy the magnificent natural landscapes surrounding Cortegana, characterised by its environmental values and its close relationship with human beings’ handiwork which conserve and maintain the environment. Dominating this walk is the presence of the Castle, which as you reach it, provides a complete panorama of the whole town and its natural surroundings, giving a 360º view and a balcony over the town below.

Route: Mirador de Avenida  de las Minas, Mirador de Santa  Bárbara (La Gitanesca), Mirador de la Calle Paraiso,  Mirador de Castillo street, Mirador de Piedad street, many viewpoints around the Castle

• HISTORICAL CENTRE, MOSAIC ROUTE AND THE “CASINOS” (SOCIAL CLUBS): In the past few years, the streets in the centre of Cortegana have been decorated with artistic mosaics in front of the doors of the houses, true works of a traditional art form which beautify the greater part of the historical area of the town.

• Following the route that these mosaics offer us, we discover several unique buildings of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, such as the stately homes constructed by the Catalan Sevillana bourgeoisie who came to settle in our area and expressed their social status by constructing interesting homes which brought in Catalan architectural models to the streets of Cortegana. Of all these, the most outstanding is la Casa de Estrada with its eclectic architectural elements, without doubt the most famous in the town, attracting our attention with its corner towers showing Andalusí architectural influence.

• There are other historically interesting ancestral homes in Real, Doctor Caballero and Romero-Rabana streets which date from the 18^th , 19^th and 20^th centuries.

• Good examples of modernist regional architecture are the two social clubs (“casinos”), located in the Plaza de la Constitución – la Sociedad Nuevo Casino and in the Plaza del Divino Salvador, la Sociedad Gran Casino, two examples of club architecture that have a place among the best in Andalusia.

Route: San Sebastián,García Lorca,Sargento Benítez,Real streets, Plaza del Divino Salvador, Maura street, Plaza de la Constitución.

In this street map of Cortegana, 4 of the 5 walks mentioned above are shown in different colours: