White City

• White City

When you go on the road from Seville to Marbella, suddenly right on the mountain - white houses, a single bell tower and the medieval walls of the monastery. This is one of those tiny Andalusian towns that are so good is that it is impossible to pass by without turning from the highway. So I slowed down and turned right. It Estepa (Estepa) - in Spanish, steppe. Small white huts, climbs up the 600 meter hill in height. Narrow stone streets, where I have a big car barely passed my friends, almost touching the side mirrors house wall.

In general, the usual Andalusian village, but with its incredible history dating back in the days before Christ. On this mountain have lived for centuries people have changed the state, there were wars.

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The 208 GD. N. e. Carthaginians lived here and keep the defense from the Romans burned their homes and committed mass suicide, only to not fall into slavery. The Romans called this place Ostipo, settled and almost four hundred years have lived here, until they were forced out by the Visigoths, who came here from the Baltic states. In the VIII century, the city seized the Moorish army, renamed it the Istabba and began to build a fortress on the hill, now called San Cristobal, to defend themselves against the Christians during the Reconquest. In 1240 Istabba was conquered by the forces of Ferdinand III and since then begins to get rid of Arabic architecture and lifestyle. Now it is nothing like that here lived almost 500 years of Mauritania, who came here from overseas.

At the top of the hill is a museum complex of the convent of Santa Clara (XVII century) and the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary (XVII century). Monastery restored with the help of the European Free Trade Association for nearly half a million euros, as accurately stated on the notice board.

These remnants of a stone wall - the only thing that remains of the fortifications Mauritanians in the early Middle Ages.

This monument entirely different time. Victoria Tower - the bell tower remaining after the eponymous cathedral built by the architect Cristóbal García in 1766

Cathedral itself was destroyed by the Republicans in 1939. Then, during the Spanish Revolution, anarchists and communists, following the example of older brothers in Russia, actively engaged in the destruction of churches, hung and shot the priests. Not survived and the Cathedral of Victoria in Estepa. From him there was only one wall and fragments of touching a tiled picture of the Virgin and Child.

In 1955, the bell tower has become a national monument. On a tiny square near the old ruined temple sitting on the benches and grow orange trees.

And one last: Estepa - one of the main Spanish manufacturers of sweets - about 2,000 residents (mostly women) are produced annually more than 20 million kilograms of traditional Christmas cookies and polvorón mantekado. There are about 45 factories for the production of cookies, which are sold throughout Spain and are exported. Here's a he, the white city Estepa.