This district is formed by the localities of Cortes, Graena, Lopera and Los Baños, all located in the North face of Sierra Nevada and framed in a spectacular mountainous landscape. It has two great tourist attractions, the house-caves and the thermal bath of Baños of Graena, whose waters were recognized internationally in the Universal Exhibition of Paris of 1900. Its route becomes a stroll through history from the Bronze Age, the Roman period to the Arab settlement. Cortes and Graena offers also to the visitor a great number of places to discover with routes, excursions, and the benefit of activities like trekking and mountaineering. In its surroundings, sports as the hunting and the fishing can be practiced.
The area in which this municipality is based has been inhabited since the Bronze Age, as the archaeological remains found demonstrate. Its urban topology corresponds to the Arab period when it reached great prominence thanks to the quality of its thermal waters. However, the settlement of the Roman town in this land is based on the vestiges found, columns near the springs, and in the origin of its name. Cortes, is of Latin origin and it is translated like “work houses”. This type of structure abounded in the Roman period. In 1492 it was conquered by the Catholic Kings and it depended on the Crown until, in the XVII century the district was acquired by the Perez de Barradas family, forming the Marquesado de Cortes.
Cortes y Graena stands out for being place of wines and stews. About the first ones, in the elaboration of the wines of this region it remains the family tradition of the production and the popular tasting. Among the most typical dishes inside the recipe book of the district the choto in sauce stands out. It is typical of this area the preparation of meats like the rabbit, hunted meat and the derivatives of the pig.
© Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada I Diputación de Granada
