About Lorca and Los Velez




Your house in Los Velez

The Los Velez area is located in Almeria, the hottest province in Andalucia with an average of more than 3,100 hours of annual sunshine. It is a beautiful green area and both historically and culturally rich. In Velez Rubio you can find your corjios, country house or land for sale. 


The beautiful mountain landscape of the remote Los Vélez district, in the northernmost part of Almería, is greener and more forested than most of the province. Three small towns – Vélez Rubio, Vélez Blanco and María – nestle in the shadow of the stark Sierra de María range, part of the Parque Natural Sierra María-Los Vélez. There’s good walking in the area, as well as some celebrated rock art at the Cueva de los Letreros. The small agricultural town of Vélez Rubio is in a picturesque setting, surrounded by sierras, olive groves and fields of wheat.


Vélez Rubio is the largest town, with an enormous 18th-century baroque church, but at 1070m Vélez Blanco has more charm with its scramble of red-roofed houses, fairy-tale castle and sensational valley views. There is an abundance of water and fountains, with an extensive and fertile valley. The town has some of the best restaurants in the area.

Velez Blanco is on the mountainside of the Sierra del Mahimón a few hundred metres above Velez Rubio. It is the smaller of the two towns. This wonderful location gives it remarkable views over the Blanco valley and beyond.


Although very rural and quiet with no industry the area provides everything. Excellent road and motorway networks with very light traffic mean that the four airports which service the area are within easy reach.

 

 

Velez-Blanco castle

 

Historic buildings



It is a beautiful picture-postcard town that is dominated by an impressive castle. The Castle of Marques de los Velez was built in 1506 in the hillside above the town and from here one can see all of Velez Blanco. However, even though it appears a solid fortress, behind the battlements is emptiness. Its white marble courtyard is in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, and friezes from the main rooms are in Paris. It was declared an Artistic-Historic Monument in 1931 and partly restored between 1960 and 1980. There are plans to rebuild the courtyard completely with marble from nearby quarries. There are many fine views from its Torre del Homenaje and the fort is open daily in the summer.

The Parish Church de la Magdelena, built before 1597, but became a ruin when the roof collapsed in 1822. The Church de Santiago (1515-1559) was built coinciding with the completion of the castle, a mixture of Gothic, Renaissance and Mudejar styles. It was restored in the 1980s. It is well worth taking a walk along the Calle de la Corredera where there are many baroque mansions, the Temple de Santiago (1559) and other historic buildings including the Ayuntamiento (town hall) built in 1888. It is said that this street is the historic and social axis of the town.


This is a place of enormous historical significance. The town lies at the foot of the Sierra de Maria and proudly boasts the finest baroque religious building in Almeria Province, the Church of La Encarnation. It can be found on the plaza of the same name. Built in the 18th century, this has an imposing carved facade which includes the arms of the Marquises of Villafranca y Vélez, who built it. Inside, the main altar has a superbly detailed, 20-metre-high carved wood retablo.

Three kilometers north of the town are the UNESCO World Heritage listed pre-historic caves and paintings called Cueva de Los Letreros (Leters Cave) and La Cueva del Gabar, to the north of Vélez Blanco.

www.lorcatallerdeltiempo.es > more tourist information about Lorca

www.semanasantalorca.com > info about Easter events in Lorca