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It is celebrated on Sunday September 5 – always on the Sunday before Sept. 12 which is the feast of the Dulce Nombre de María (Holy Name of Mary) – and is both the most massive religious festival in the province of Cadiz and the oldest, dating back as far as the fourteenth century, with the pilgrimage appearing to have begun in the sixteenth. | |
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The locals from Alcalá de los Gazules set out at dawn from the Victoria church in the centre of Alcalá and make the pilgrimage to the shrine at about 5 km from the town on the old royal road to Jerez. On foot, horseback or in one of the carts that accompany the Simpecado (ornate wagon which transports the Virgin Lady) they travel to the shrine in a festive atmosphere (with dances, songs and jokes) as befits an Andalusian pilgrimage. They reach the shrine around 9am, and once there, after a few prayers, the patroness is paraded on a beautiful silver float accompanied by the ringing of bells. |
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| The procession takes place through the olive grove around the shrine and finishes around 3pm with a very emotional moment, giving way to lunch, after which the pilgrims revel in song and dance outside and even within the courtyard of the shrine itself. In small groups they visit the Virgin Lady in the chapel to make their requests and promises. | ||
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When evening falls the pilgrims who are not from Alcalá begin their return journey and those from Alcalá sing a “Salve Regina”. Around 20:30 the sanctuary starts to close, and so the pilgrims return to Alcalá on the same day, at nightfall, kicking off a week of festivities. These culminate with the Octava de la Virgen de los Santos: on the following Sunday, this year on September 14, the locals return to the sanctuary to celebrate their patron saint and present the children born in the last year. Lunch is had around the sanctuary (the fraternity, serving as host, offers a gazpacho soup) and all kinds of songs are sung, including “octavas” in honour of the Virgin Lady: |
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| Haz por siempre Virgen pura, que viva la fé segura en tu pueblo de Alcalá |
The Virgin on its way around the Sanctuary |
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| The Sanctuary is open all day so that all pilgrims may fulfil the tradition of praying under the cloak of the Virgin Lady. | ||
Recommendations
How to get there
By car from Jerez or Algeciras there is a motorway which leaves us at the foot of Alcalá. From the Andalusian capitals, both Jerez and Algeciras are accessible by motorway. The trip itself has no further complications.Pilgrimage map
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Procesión |  |
Romería |  |
Feria |  |
Toros |  |
Fiestas |  |
Espectáculo |  |
Itinerarios |  |
Lugar de Celebración |
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Zona Aparcamiento |
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Estación de tren |
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Tapear |
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Iglesia | |||||||||||||||||
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Mesa y mantel |  |
Monumento | ||||||||||||||||||
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Alojamiento |  |
Mirador | ||||||||||||||||||
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Café y copas |  |
Lugar de interés |
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Parking |  |
Concierto | ||||||||||||||||||
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Compras |  |
Teatro | ||||||||||||||||||
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Viajar con niños |
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Senderismo | ||||||||||||||||||
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Museos y exposiciones |
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Flora | ||||||||||||||||||
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Fauna | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Cicloturismo | ||||||||||||||||||||
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DOUBLE CLIC TO ZOOM IN
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Walking
It’s a village of whitewashed houses, not very large, which can be covered in a morning (and is worth doing so). Contemplate mountain homes, the views of mountain scenery from any corner of the village and its people and ways of life.Monuments
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The Salada Roman Cisterns Recently excavated and open to the public, and dating from the second century BC, they consist of water deposits, triumphal arches and the basement of a temple dedicated to the divinity of the spring, now disappeared. |
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Roman Bridge Located on the Barbate River beside the current bridge, there are some remains such as this pillar. |
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Fuente de la Salada (The Salada Spring) It is located on Calle Nuestra Señora de los Santos, on one of the slopes of Mount Coracha. It is of Roman origin and was built to take advantage of a serendipitous spring that appeared in the rock. |
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The Pozos (Wells) They are wells of Arabic origin and are an example of popular architecture in Alcalá. They go by the names of Pozo de “Arriba” (Upper Well), Pozo de “Enmedio” (Middle Well) and Pozo de “Abajo” (Lower Well). |
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Iglesia de San Jorge Edificio constituido por sucesivas ampliaciones entre los siglos XVI Y XVIII a partir de la primitiva capilla construída sobe la mezquita musulmana. Actualmente la Iglesia tiene planta de cruz latina de 3 naves. Arquitectónicamente habría que catalogarla como gótica, aunque en lo concerniente a retablos predominan los barrocos -como el del altar mayor- |
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Casa del Cabildo (Chapter House) This is an interesting 16th century building from the purist period of the Spanish Renaissance. It stands out for its contrasting colours, the overlap of architectural designs on the façade and for its austerity and solidity. |
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| It preserves items of great value, as is the case of a Visigoth pedestal; an icon of San Sebastian from the 12th century (by Cimabuc or Cavallini); the Virgen del Rosario (first known work of the brilliant Martínez Montañés); or the Reclining Christ. | |||
Of interest
| The church is a single nave presided over by the chapel of the Virgin. Interestingly, in the Sanctuary is kept the largest and most interesting collection of votive offerings in Andalusia. |  |
Thousands of objects including paintings, in which the faithful have represented that favour which through the intercession of the Virgin Lady has been granted to them, hang on and crowd the walls of the sanctuary. |  |
Surroundings
We are at one of the gateways to the Alcornocales Nature Reserve, one of the largest and most unique in Andalusia for its vegetation (the forests of cork and the moisture of the Straits of Gibraltar create a microclimate that has allowed plants from the age of the dinosaurs to survive), and also for its rich fauna, linked to neighbouring Africa.Excursions to Vejer are recommended if you want to go to the coast and bid farewell to the mountains crossing landscapes of open countryside, or to Ubrique via the pass of Galiz along beautiful winding roads if what you want is a total immersion in this Park, which looks more like a jungle.
History and Legends
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The Shrine of Nuestra Señora de Los Santos (Our Lady of the Saints) is about 5 kilometres from the town of Alcalá de los Gazules, and its origin dates back to the cross erected in this place, an old historical crossroads, in memory of the victory achieved by the Christian troops of Alfonso XI in 1339 over the army of the Marinid Prince Abd al-Malik, which was returning from desolating the countryside of Lebrija and Jerez.
The meticulous architecture of the Shrine inspires this beautiful place. |
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The devotion of the image of the Virgen de Los Santos, like the Virgen de Guadalupe in Extremadura, originated in the victory of the Battle of Salado. Many locals from Alcalá, who were first besieged by the Marinid troops and then recruited by Alfonso XI, participated in the battle for which they asked Nuestra Señora de los Santos to intercede and protect them. |
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| A shrine to worship the Virgin was initiated in the 15th century, although the traces of which remain today are due to work carried out around 1675, taking the form we see today in which its structure around the patio underlines the trait of being not only a house of prayer but also a shelter for the pilgrims. |
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Hotels
Por su relación calidad/precio y su magnífica ubicación, éstos son los hoteles más recomendables. Clicando en sus logotipos accederá a sus mejores ofertas.| La cadena NH tiene 4 establecimientos en la provincia de Cádiz con magníficas instalaciones, como es habitual, y que suele realizar ofertas promocionales. NH es una garantía de comodidad y habitaciones funcionales, además de un servicio de extrema profesionalidad. |
