Baños de la Encina's major attraction
is its Moorish castle, which is both an historical
and an artistic monument. Notable for its fifteen ten metre high
towers, the fortress was constructed on the orders of Al-Hakam II,
who dominated the area, and was completed in 970.
Originally named simply Baños, the
village bacame 'de la Encina' ('of the holm oaks') in the 13th Century,
when an apparition of the Virgin Mary was reported to have occurred
amongst the oak trees.
Around the village cave
paintings and Bronze Age artefacts have been discovered,
along with Iberian and Roman remains.
Take a trip along the road which
links the village with nearby Bailén, where the
famous battle against the French forces took place during the War
of Independence.
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