Cañete La Real has fabulous views
Cañete La Real, is a place where the view stretches as far as the eye can see, you will be able to spend an unforgettable holiday together with the traditional Cartujano horse riding stables. This ancient small town, full of stories of travellers and bandits, proudly preserves its historical heritage marked by the passing of different civilizations, and at night it offers a privileged spot to observe the stars in the sky and hide away from the immensity of the Mountain Range.
Cañete La Real sits on the border between the Ronda mountains and the municipality of Antequera, at 742 metres above sea level. Its principal river is the Guadalteba, which crosses Canete to follow its course irrigating the land beyond and feeding the reservoir of the same name. The countryside around Cañete is beautiful, the mountains around it filled with pine and oak forests on the lower slopes. Here too, amidst the scent of thyme and rosemary, one can see the occasional fox or mountain cat, the most interesting of the species in the region. The origin of the name comes from the Arabic Hins Cannit or Qanit, which means “castle”, and the word “Cannit” refers to the water channels that were once part of the now urban landscape.
The present name derives from these, and the title “Real” (Royal) was granted by King Alfonso XI. The oldest archaeological remains date from Neolithic times, and the Iberians established a base here on a hill close to the municipality called Sabora. The Romans later transferred the urban centre to the plain. The emperor Vespasiano granted the town its municipal title, and in response the local people erected statues and minted coins in his honour. The called the place Flavia Sabora, which was changed by the Moors to Qanit when they arrived. Canete changed hands between Moors and Christians a number of times during the 14th century, until it was finally conquered definitively by the Christians in 1407 and incorporated into the Kingdom of Castille. Such political upheaval resulted in the fortress being almost totally destroyed, and it is only in our day that serious restoration work has begun.
There are more than a hundred different archaeological sites all over Canete La Real, along with six buildings dating from the 15th to the 16th centuries. The Hins Cannit castle is currently under re-construction and will soon be open to the public. In the town centre there are the remains of two defensive towers known as the Priego and the Ortegica. The layout of the town follows the typical Andalusian plan, the most characteristic being calle San Sebastian, with some beautiful examples of houses whose facades date from the 17th to the 19th centuries, and the Carmelite Convent buildings. There are also many interesting facades, typical of this mountain region, on calle Grande. Most of the houses are no higher than two storeys, although there are some up to four storeys high.
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