Routes round the Hoces del Júcar
This route takes you round the river Júcar with its wealth of enchanting landscapes, full of ravines, mountains, valleys and picturesque towns with artistic monuments.
We start our journey in the town of Albacete, where we visit the Diputación Provincial palace, enclaved in an old 19th century building, the Gothic cathedral of San Juan Bautista which houses the image of La Virgen de los Llanos, the interesting Albacete museum with a range of archaeological pieces, Roman artefacts and a selection of paintings by the artist Benjamin Palencia. Calle Mayor is the main commercial centre here with many local handicrafts available.

We move on to Tarazona de la Mancha where we can enjoy the architecture in the 17th century Plaza Mayor, where there are still buildings with picturesque wooden balconies as well as the impressive town hall and renaissance church. From Tarazona we move on to Madrigueras which has its own style of popular architecture, pretty houses with white washed walls and shields displayed, as well as the churches of San Pedro and the 18th century San Pablo.

We rejoin the road and carry on to Jorquera, an interesting town situated over a ravine of the Júcar river and crowned by the ruins of an ancient wall. Here we visit the Asunción church which houses many different painted altarpieces. In Alcalá del Júcar you'll see traditional houses which have been excavated from the mountains. Here there is a Roman bridge, the lovely San Andrés church built in the shape of a Latin cross, a castle originally built by the Christians living in Spain during the Moors rule, which has superb views over the surrounding ravines and gullies, the Plaza de Toros with its unusual irregular shape and numerous old caves such as the Agraden, Masagó and the Del Diablo.

At the end we arrive in Chinchilla de Monte Aragón, a town which according to the myth was originally established by Hercules. The town still has its original medieval layout and beautiful Arabic features. There is a multitude of interesting monuments here constructed between the 14th - 18th century such as the 15th century castle built on the mountain summit by Juan de Villena, the Gothic - Renaissance church of Santa Maria del Salvador, the Santo Domingo convent, the San Julian hospital, the town hall and the old Arabic baths. Here the traditional pottery Cuervas are made which serve either Cuerva or a mixture of wine and sugar.