Aracena is at the heart of a prestigious jamon -producing area, so try to sample some, and, when they're available, the delicious wild asparagus and local snails - rooted out from the roadside and in the fields in spring and summer respectively.

Surrounding Aracena you'll find a scattering of attractive villages, most of them dependent on the jamn industry and its curing factory at Jabugo. Jamn serrano (mountain ham) is a bocadillo standard throughout Spain and some of the best, jamn de bellotas (acorn-fed ham), comes from the Morena, where herds of sleek grey pigs grazing beneath the trees are a constant feature. In October the acorns drop and the pigs, waiting patiently below, gorge themselves, become fat and are promptly whisked off to be slaughtered and then cured in the dry mountain air.

The sierra villages - Jabugo, Aguafra, Almonaster La Real - all make rewarding bases for walks, though all are equally ill-served by public transport (details from the Aracena turismo). The most interesting is Almonaster La Real, whose castle encloses a tiny ninth-century mosque, La Mezquita, with what is said to be the oldest mihrab in Spain. Tacked onto the mosque is the village bullring which sees action once a year in August during the annual fiesta.

The village also has a couple of places to eat and stay : the very hospitable Pensin La Cruz, in the centre with a good restaurant, and Hostal Casa Garca at the entrance to the village, which also has a fine restaurant, with great jamn and ensaladilla . There are some superb paint-splashed waymarked walks northwest of the village, off the Cortegana road; a leaflet detailing these and other walks in the area can be found at the ayuntamiento on Plaza de la Constitucin.

Gary

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