The sentinel of the white villages — Olvera's castle crowns a route of legend
Olvera is one of the most dramatic of Andalusia's Pueblos Blancos — a hilltop village in northern Cadiz province capped by an 12th-century Moorish castle and a 19th-century neoclassical church that together create an unmistakable silhouette visible from miles away. It is the start of the Via Verde de la Sierra, a 36km converted railway greenway running through the Sierra through Zaframagón to Puerto Serrano — one of the best cycling and hiking routes in southern Spain, passing natural arches and the world's largest griffin vulture colony at the Zaframagón Nature Reserve.
Olvera was one of the key frontier fortresses of the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada — its castle guarded the passes between Ronda, Seville, and Cadiz, and changed hands repeatedly during the Reconquista. The town's permanent name derives from Arabic 'Holvera' (the olive-planted land), referencing the vast olive groves of the Sierra de Cádiz that have been the economic backbone of the region since Moorish cultivation was introduced in the 8th century. The 19th-century neoclassical church (Nuestra Señora de la Encarnación, 1843) was commissioned by the local aristocracy as a statement of post-Napole…