Location: West of the city centre.
Distance: 7.5 km.
Medium: In vehicle tourism and on foot.
Access route: by road and mountain road.

The predominant indigenous vegetation is the oaks and moans, low mountain of rosemary, lentisco and sabina. Some well-known routes are the Carchelejo-Cazall- Convent, Carchel to Carchelejo by the Barrio de la Grilla or the ascension to the Cueva del Puerto de las Palomas. On the urban periphery of the two cores there are several recreational areas, such as the Parque de la Fuente, the Haza de la Widow and the sports facilities of Carchelejo and Cárchel.

If you already know Covadonga and then discover this place, you will be amazed at the aesthetic, mystical and historical parallels between this and a place in the Cangas Valley, where it is said that Don Pelayo began the war against Muslims, and that, at that time, he was known as Cave Dominica. There are those who consider this overwhelming space as the Covadonga Andaluza and, according to tradition, here appeared the Virgin of Tiscar, an image exalted after the fall of the Arab fortress in the 14th century. The building is less majestic than the Asturian, but the sacred cave...

The enclave must have been sacred already from remote times. Tradition speaks of an appearance in the Water Cave, which is actually a closed cannon and sculpted by the Tícar Arroyo. This tradition also tells that it was already venerated at a time when the Arabs kept a square they considered unexpugnable, just above the grotto. On the main floor of the fortress, the present abode of Our Lady, dating back to the 15th or 16th centuries, was erected with subsequent remodeling.

In front of the entrance to the hermitage there is a fountain with a poem by Antonio Machado, dedicated to the patron of Quesada. From the old fortin is the majestic tower of tribute, with the shield of arms of Peter I (11th century) embedded in the armchair and the walled enclosure of the courtyard of arms, riding on a neckline hardly accessible to Peña Negra, a spectacular vertical wall, frequented by the mountain goats, vultures and eagles. You can climb up to him, from the sanctuary, by a metal step.

The Cueva del Agua is set down by an asphalt lane that leaves from the same A-6206, about 300 m from the sanctuary, where you can access a few small parking spaces, from where you will leave stairs that go down to a narrow and under tunnel (you have to bend down to cross it) through which a waterfall takes the water to the traditional gardens nearby. Through artificial oquity, the road offers us several alternatives to visit this magical place. Here, on a small obscene on the wall of the cave, there is a small replica of the Virgin, where the devotees, considering that this is their first and true abode, place their offerings. It is recommended to wear shoes with non-slip soles and to take precautions, as the floor and stairs are sometimes slippery.

We suggest...

• Visit the birth of the Arroyo de Tíscar and the road of the Vadillo de Tíscar, very close to the sanctuary.

Tiscar is located at a crossroads of roads, right over the villages of Don Pedro and Belerda. The A-6206, also known as Tícar, which links Quesada with Hinojares and Pozo Alcón passes through a tunnel that crosses the rocky wall on which the Sanctuary and the Castle of Peña Negra are based and under which is the Cueva del Agua. This way Hinojares is 12 km, Quesada 15 km and Pozo Alcón 17 km. However, the nearest town is Huesa (10 km). From the same village a narrow local road is set up which, passing through Belerda, links with the previous one very close to the area.

This Sanctuary of the Ibera era, along with another located also in Jaén, in the town of Castellar are very important and have provided the largest number of bronze exvotes, important pieces not only to know the work of this metal in the Iberian world, but to solve many other problems related to the faithful who approached the divinity in these places of worship, such as the type of religiosity, the forms of clothing, the jewels, weapons, the type of hair, etc.

From Collado de los Jardines more than 2,500 exvotes have come out, and from Castellar more than 2,000. The almost all of these objects are kept in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid.

The exvotes (dolls) of this Shrine of the Collado de los Jardines are of the most varied, in them are represented faithful of all kinds: women, men, warriors, etc.
The latest research was based on the documentation of a historical population in the "Cerro del Castillo" located above the Sanctuary, with the consequent recording of materials and the documentation of 'work units' such as a Roman track, a wall and the environment of the solar that occupied the Iberian necropolis.

The Cueva de los Muñecos is located inside the Natural Park Despeñacolos, the municipal term of Santa Elena, within a ravine, built between colossal stone blocks, in which there are excavated several caves, the largest of which, about 50 meters deep, was probably the limit of the sacred enclosure. Within this cave today there is a water spring that probably should have existed already in ancient times. In the area there is today a Centre for the Interpretation of the Historical and Cultural Heritage of the Natural Park of Despeñacolos, as well as a path for public use that leads to the Sanctuary and a lookout in the so-called Cerro del Castillo.

The site of the first archaeological remains dated from the Neolithic (4000 BC) in the town of La Guardia de Jaén. It was later used by the local inhabitants as a guard and poultry for the cattle from which it comes its current name: Cueva Cabrera.

On a blackened wall there is a red stain that can be a rock painting (cave paintings of the Cabrera Cave).

To arrive there is only to follow the signs to the Natural Monument of the Quejigo del Master from Valdepeñas de Jaén, just 1 '5 km from a lane that descends to the right, continuing just over 2 km we arrive to an old ruined cortijo in the middle of a wide explanade.

The horizon is wide, although it is true that the mountains cut the celestial vault a little. We are facing a top-class place for those most demanding fans.
This observation point is located more than 1,100 meters in height and in the bottom of the valley with outstanding conditions of seeing and darkness.

The point we propose in the old rear explanade of the old cortijo of Maria Luisa, right on the border between the provinces of Córdoba and Jaén, in the municipal term of Martos. It is easily accessed from the marteña pedanía of Monte Lopez-Alvarez in the direction of Albendín, a few meters from the province limit a detour to the left in the direction of Alcaudete. At this point is already visible the large line of cereal with the old cortijo preceded by a row of trees that is just the way of access.

In the back we find a large place to leave the vehicles and set up to enjoy the night show.

Two are the points from which you get a good view of the Chorro:

• In front of the forest house comes a path that takes you to a lookout with a stone wall from which to serene observe the show that opens before your eyes. The white spots that are seen on the walls of this mole accuse the presence of vultures' nests, for they are only the stained of their excrements by being dragged through the waters.

• Following the track that has brought us to the Chorro and a few meters away you have to go down a path that comes to the right to the very abyss through a cast of sharp stones. You're on top of an impressive rosejo of vertical walls. With great caution you can look and get over the heights, views and flight of the many birds that live or go by in their constant search for food.

We suggest...

• Take binoculars to see the caves where the birds nest.

• Make use of the wooden observatory from where you will pass unnoticed for the birds that will fly and pose around you without complexes. At the entrance there is an information panel with the most common birds in the area. A good time to learn to identify them.

In the Iruela, from the City Hall square, the road rises towards the Riogazas hotel. It is known as the Chorro road. 12 km from the Iruela is the Chorro forest house on the left bank of the forest track.

Once we get to Central, we're already in the middle of the cornicabral. A mile earlier, from the Nidillo Strike, we will be accompanied by the cornicabra to our right on a very stony and pending slope. At the end of the route, in front of the bridge that crosses the Borosa River to access the central one, on the hillside that extends to our left after crossing the bridge, we will observe large trees, which look like oak trees, but if you look at us it will surprise us that they are large cornicabra. In the fall we are presented with a multitude of warm colors ranging from orange to dark red.

The cornicabral that we see is associated with little vegetation in its lowland, this is because the presence of cattle (wild or domestic ungulates) benefits the cornicabra, its outbreaks and spills of seed are very toxic and not appetizing to the cattle, so it is not easy to see other species accompanying the cornicabral, and more in areas frequented by the cattle. However, they are usually seen in oak (Quercus ilex ballota), arces de Montpelier (Acer mosnpessulanum), agracejos (Phillyrea latifolia), sabinas (Juniperus phoenicea), lentisco (Pistacia lenticus), rosemos (Rosmarinus officinalis), torvizcos (Daphne gnidium), esamujos (Rosa ssp.) and among herbaceas we highlight the peony or rose of mountain (Paeonia broteroi), as well as in the gradivos (Rachos), as in the gradivázos, as in the gradivánas in the gracos (Rachos, as in the gradius, as in the gradivás, as in the gradivázos, as in the gracos (Rachos), as in the gradius, as in the gradivávás, as in the gradius in the gracas in the gracos, as in the (Poa bulbosa, Agrostis ssp., Cynosurus echinatus, Aegilops geniculata, Arrhenatherum elatinus, etc.).

The name of the cornicabra is due to the protuberances in the form of goat horn so characteristic in leaves and stems, which are gills produced by the bite of an insect, which uses them as food for its larvae.

We suggest:

• The cornicabral are present in others in many mountains and more or less stony slopes of the Park, as in this type of environment it is where the cornicabra (Pistacia terebinthus) finds its habitat. Extensive cornicabral can be seen on the slopes of the Zumeta River, near the Ticiano Sale, in the gutters of Peña Corba (Las Villas), on the slopes of the Yelmo Chico, in the Cerrada del Utrero, etc.

Route of the Borosa, from the place known as La Central. To reach the cornicabral we must remount the Borosa River along the track that passes to its vera, and that ends up in a hydroelectric power plant. We take it on the farm of Borosa, a well-known place. We have 8 km ahead of us, but they don't have much slope and can be done easily, and we go all the way through the Borosa River, which is one of the most spectacular and popular routes of the Park.