Castril de la Peña is located in the slope of a rock, to the north of the Granada province, next to the province of Jaén and the Cazorla, Segura y la Villas Natural Park. The Castril Mountain range, declared natural park, is characterizes by its spectacular relief and the abundance of caves, water streams and galleries. In the Seca Mountain range is located the Cueva del Muerto, in which numerous stalactites and stalagmites can be appreciated, and the Cave of Don Fernando, the deepest of the province. The Castril River crosses these mountain ranges north to south, between canyons, cascades and caves. The urban core of this town is characterized by its steep streets and the uniformity of its houses of low height, closed and white facades adapted to the environment. Among its places of interest the rests of Arab walls and towers, the Peña del Sagrado Corazon and El Canton viewpoint, from which extraordinary views are contemplated, stand out.
Castril was known during many years by its glass crafts, which still conserves. The town has a celebration for each season, although the great fair in honour to the Virgin of the Dolores, declared of National Tourist Interest, begins the first weekend of October, standing out the bull runs, similar to the Sanfermines. Castril has the following villages attached: Fátima, Fuentes de Tubos, Almontaras, Fuentevera and Campo de Cebas.
From 1997 there is a bond of friendship and collaboration between Castril and the Nobel Prize winner of literature Jose Saramago, because he is fond sentimentally with the village of Castril Pilar del Rio. The town has dedicated its public library to this Portuguese writer and he has been named Adoptive Son.
Castril goes back to the time of Punic domination in the region. The historian Tito Livio wrote that here the Carthaginian general Amílcar Barca was defeated and died. The Romans were the first ones to use the Peña as protection for a military camp that would be villa later. During the Arab time it became fortified city under the name of Qastalla. From 1319 it was besieged by the Christians, and changed of hands in several occasions until the definitive conquest in 1489 by the Catholic Kings. In 1490 the house of Zafra, run by Don Hernando de Zafra, obtained the Señorío of Castril and a Carta Puebla that allowed it to repopulate the place after the expulsion of the Moorish. At this moment, the houses, the church and the buildings that they form the present town were raised. In the XIX century the town was set afire by the Napoleonic troops and served as scenery for the battle of the Llano de los Tubos during the Carlistas wars.
The typical plates are the migas with remojón, maimones, noodles with hare or with partridge, the buns with rabbit or the different stews elaborated with trout from the Castril river, where there is a fishing boundary. In addition its great variety of meats (pig, rabbit, hen or choto) and the quality of its sausages stand out.
© Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada I Diputación de Granada
