Friday, January 25, 2013

Antequera, Spain

On our way to Granada, we stopped in the mountain town of Antequera. As you might guess from the name, the town dates back to Roman times, though there have been plenty of changes since then. We parked in the middle of town and wandered around a bit before going to the top of the hill to see the church and fort there (which will have their own posts later).

As with most Spanish towns, a variety of churches are found throughout. One that seemed closed was the Church of the Mother of God. Our guide book says it was built in the 1700s and is "a good example of Andalusian rococo."

Iglesia de Madre de Dios

From there we walked over to the main plaza in town. The Palacio de Najera houses the municipal museum, which was closed, even on the second of January.

Town Plaza

Entrance to the Museo Municipal in the Palacio de Najera

Patio of the Palacio

The square also has a statue of King Ferdinand I on horseback and a church across from the museum.

J and Ferdinand I (not a fountain)

There's the fountain

The church is dedicated to St. Martin de Porres, and had a lovely interior and a simple nativity.

Church nave

Church nativity

We found plenty of other fountains in town, from massive to modest.

Fountain in downtown

Fountain closer to the Roman stuff

We also discovered some other imperial roots of Antequera.

Darth Vader winters here?

We started winding our way up the hill, discovering some nice views of the town and a small wall shrine to Our Lady.

Town with fog in the distance

Looks like good roofs for Jason Bourne to run across

Our Lady of Socorro

Next, we went to the alcazaba or fort at the top of the hill, which we will learn more about in the next post.

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