Pueblos Blancos

 

The Pueblos Blancos are located throughout the Sierra de Cádiz, one of the six regions which the province of Cádiz is divided into and which has a 1,949 km2 total area. It occupies the northeastern area, being the westernmost end of the Cordillera Subbética, and its extension largely runs into with Sierra of Grazalema and Los Alcornocales Natural Parks.

The region borders to the southwest with the Campiña de Jerez, to the southeast with the Serranía de Ronda (Málaga), to the northwest with the region of the Marismas del Bajo Guadalquivir (Seville) and to the northeast with the Sierra Sur de Sevilla.

The Sierra of Grazalema Natural Park is considered one of the greatest natural treasures in Andalusia for its wide botanical and faunistic variety. It is also home to an endemic specie of conifer, the pinsapso (Spanish fir), which occupies more than 400 hectares. In its northernmost area the Guadalete river has its spring, which flows through several mountain municipalities and leaves in its wake two tributaries, the Majaceite and the Guadalporcún rivers.

The los Alcornocales Natural Park constitute the other environment in which the Pueblos Blancos are located, as well as one of the largest in the Iberian Peninsula. Considered as the cradle of millenary cultures and place of different civilizations settlement, its area is occupied almost entirely by native Mediterranean forests, highlighting the cork production in the district.

In terms of climatology, the distance from the sea and the altitude at which the region is located means that the area practically has its own microclimate. Temperatures differ from the rest of the autonomous community, being lower and even snow can be found during the winter in the highest areas. It is worth noting the high rainfall, being the town of Grazalema the location where more rainfall is registered and one of the rainiest municipalities in Spain.

The natural environment provides shelter to an enormous diversity of flora. Cork oaks, holm oaks, willows, ash trees and olive trees inhabit together with the famous endemic Spanish fir. The Natural Parks are also the habitat of birds of prey, many of them designated as endangered species. The griffon vulture, the imperial and golden eagle or the eagle owl are just a small sample of the variety of fauna in the mountain range of Cádiz.

The rich landscapes, derived from the climatic and geographical distinctive features of the area, make rural tourism one of the economic engines of the Pueblos Blancos. However, these peculiarities have also given the Sierra de Cádiz a privileged position for stockbreeding and agriculture development.