The hermits' houses
A room and a stone bed each — austerity men lived in for decades.
José Manuel Fuentes — CC BY-SA 4.0 · kallerna — CC BY-SA 4.0 · kallerna — CC BY-SA 4.0 · kallerna — CC BY-SA 4.0
A complex of small hermitages on a slope in the Sierra Morena northwest of Córdoba, where solitary hermits lived across centuries. The idea goes back to a very old tradition in these hills: individuals withdrawing from the city to live alone in the open. The present complex is eighteenth century, but the practice itself is far older, reaching back to the early centuries. What you see is a row of small separated houses, each hermit with his own dwelling and small garden, and a central church that brought them together once a day. The houses are simple to the point of austerity: a room, a stone bed and a small space. This is a place about silence and solitude, and that is what makes it affecting: you stand in a room where a man lived alone for decades by choice. From the edge of the complex there is a wide view over the Guadalquivir valley with Córdoba on the plain below, among the best views of the city. It lies in the hills about fifteen kilometres from the centre and needs a car — there is no regular public transport.
A room and a stone bed each — austerity men lived in for decades.
The Guadalquivir valley and the city on the plain — among the best views.
Withdrawal into these hills predates the present complex by centuries.
Sierra de Córdoba, northwest of the city
By car on the road climbing northwest out of Córdoba, twenty to thirty minutes. There is no regular public transport, and a taxi is an option but costly both ways since you will need to arrange the return. Without a car, access is genuinely difficult.
The archaeological site of Medina Azahara on the same slopes west of Córdoba, the Umayyad palace-city built by Abd al-Rahman III and later destroyed — an exceptional site that should not be missed if you are in the area with a car. The two together fill a day outside the city.
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