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By Jo Williams
Cumbres Mayores is located at the northern most
edge of Andalucía, only 10km from the neighbouring comunidad
autónoma (autonomous community) of Extremadura. Its border
position can be seen in the change in land use - the farming of
cereals and cattle - that is more characteristic of Extremadura
than Andalucía.
Unlike the heart of the Sierra with its steep hillsides
almost completely covered by trees, the hills around Cumbres Mayores
are gently rolling, with swathes of stone-walled pastureland for
grazing cattle. The main woodland here is olive trees. The views
in this open landscape are superb; you can see the battlements of
the medieval castle in Cumbres Mayores from miles around. From Cumbres
you can clearly see the village of Higuera la Real in Extremadura,
among other villages nearby.
 Cumbres Mayores boasts an enormous castle and it's
easy to imagine the village that was once here contained within
its walls. Now it's home to the village's football pitch, a curious
fact but hardly surprising in a hilltop village where large, flat
areas are in short supply.
Sancho IV ordered the construction of the castle
in 1293, along with those of Aroche,
Cortegana, Santa Olalla de Cala,
Fregenal de la Sierra north of Cumbres, Villanueva del Río
and Lebrija. The castle at Cumbres was the largest one in this so-called
Banda Gallega, the series of defensive fortifications aimed at protecting
the border against a Portuguese invasion. The castle was finished
in the 14th century under Fernando IV and was heavily restored in
the early 70s.
The castle walls are 400m long with nine square
and round towers, constructed from recycled blocks of stone originally
used by the Romans. The 10m-high and three-metre-thick walls are
now surrounded by houses abutting the castle itself.
Opposite the castle across the small Plaza
de Portugal is a huge ochre church, the Iglesia
de San Miguel, with a Gothic vaulted ceiling and Renaissance
features. The famous architect of Seville's cathedral, Hernán
Ruíz, helped to design the church. It has a large collection
of Mexican silver and an impressive Baroque retablo (altarpiece).
Next door to the castle is the village's bullring,
unusual for its rectangular shape, and a small tourist information
office.
Cumbres Mayores is one village in a line of three
Cumbres occupying the summit (cumbre) of a ridge of hills. A few
kilometres west is Cumbres Enmedio (the Middle Cumbres). Its grand
main street is rather out of keeping with its tiny size of a mere
50 people, which makes it one of the smallest hamlets in Andalucía.
It even has its own ayuntamiento (town hall). The third one is Cumbres
de San Bartolomé, with an attractive square and whitewashed
church.
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