Orce
Orce is is a small village located not too far from Galera offering a wealth of history and architectorial heritage. There is a castle, a museum and two historic palaces and as you drive through Orce you will notice the quaint streets and traditional houses. The village offers all basic amenities which include a supermarket, butchers, banks, green grocers, fish mongers and freshwater swimming pool.
Monuments of interest include:
The Arc of the Mosque of Utrera
The Arc of the Saints
The Church of San Pedro and San Pablo - the tower is of flowery gothic style
The Church of the Hospital of the Conception
The District of the Market.
The viewpoint of Zabaleta allows you to see views of the Mountain range and the town.
Local Fiestas
16th to the 20th January - Festival of San Antón and San Sebastian
The celebrations include battle re-enactments, religious pageants, clowning, dancing and fireworks to celebrate the ancient festival of San Antón and San Sebastian in memory of the Spanish victory over the Moors in the 16th century.
12th to 15th August - Virgen de los Dolores
This fiesta takes place with festivities going on for a week or more.
The village comes to life at night time with flamenco dancing / singing, folk groups, medieval market, open air theatre, carinival processions and more. A full programme can be obtained from the Orce Tourist Information Centre or the local town hall.
For smaller local fiestas, visit Charming Cueva, Santa Maria
Orce Museum - Article by a reader of The Sierras
It’s April, the kids are off school as I am writing this, it’s raining, and I am sat thinking what can we do if it rains here! Well I am so cold, I have got my husband to light a fire and quite frankly I don't want to move from it!!
Let’s take a look at a few things close by that may interest some of you out there looking for an alternative to walking, or cycling during the rainy season..
Last year, whilst we had relatives out here, it was actually too hot to go out! So we decided to visit Orce Museum.
It was very cheap to get into and we stayed in there for about an hour. Unfortunately, most if not all of the write ups were in Spanish, so you either need to be able to read it or have children who can read for you! There were many archeological remains and for those of you interested in history, it is worth a visit if you have an hour or so to kill.
Winter opening hours from 10am—2pm / 4—6pm
Summer opening hours from 10am—2pm / 5—7pm
There is also an Arts Centre in Orce, and when we visited there was a large exhibition here too. All the information was in Spanish and English...So, if you are visiting the Museum it is worthwhile asking if there is anything going on there at the time of your visit. We gained access to the Arts Centre free of charge if we visited on the same day as visiting the Museum.