Benaoján - Nearby

Cueva del Gato

The entrance of this cave can be seen from the railway as it heads north from the station two kilometres away. It is called the cave of the cat as its entrance is said to look like a cat's head. More>

Cueva de la Pileta

The village is rightly famed for these caves, well signposted around the area. South of the village heading towards Cortes de la Frontera, a side road leads off on the right, serving as a carpark. The opening times are not well advertised and many a tourist turns up to find that the last tour of the day has commenced. More>

Torre de los Moros

As the name implies this is a Moorish tower and after a long lunch at Molino del Santo, is a good destination for a walk. A route plan is available from the hotel, though a much quicker path can be taken. Follow the early instructions to the cave, and having crossed over the railway line and river, head upstream past the old weir. Before the next road bridge and house, a small track winds up on the left. Keep heading up and after 15 minutes through the cork oak trees you will see the tower on the right. A more formal track leads up to the fortification and beyond a series of ruined farmsteads there is a spot where you can scramble up to the summit.

The tall ruin of the tower was called Torre Mora s but now only has one side standing, although the foundations are clearly visible. The view is one of interest, as it is a fine example of the line of sight theory, with villages signalling danger to each other. Montejaque and Benaojan are out of sight of each other, their views blocked by a large limestone outcrop. A fortification in the middle would have resolved this problem, but villagers still would not have been able to look up the valley and give any warning of approaching attackers. The solution was to build a tower over the river valley to watch the valley and warn both villages. As this must have been a joint project, it might explain why this would have been such a fine structure. A number of terraces and homesteads can be seen indicating the lost village of Ocegina. The pueblo was located just under a kilometre to the south near the dense tree line. It seems to have been deserted soon after 1485 and the population moved to the larger community. It is presumed that at the time of the Morisco uprising in 1570, the village had already been ethnically cleansed.

Walk of Mr Hendersons Railway

An interesting walk from Benaoján to Jimena de Libar is described in "The Walk of Mr. Henderson´s Railway"