Larva
Larva is a town located to the East of Sierra Mágina to 87 Kilometres from and occupies an incline territory towards the River Guadiana Menor. The rainfall is barely, what favours steppe vegetation and a strong erosion, that has given rise to big precipices and watercourses that shapes a semi desert landscape.
More than half of the municipal district of is covered with pastures, thymes and esparto fields, being not many the numbers of arboreal forest species occasionally the result of the reforestation. We can find suitable landscapes for doing hill walking and other adventure sports. Almost all the cultivated lands have the cereals production (barley and wheat), although nowadays it predominates the olive grove.
We can observe a contrast in the relief of Larva between the North and the South areas. The North has a soft relief, with elevations of 600 metres where we can emphasize the hills of Chorrillo and the Moro in the boundary with Quesada. To the south we can find the Sierra de Larva with a rough relief and steep slopes, where we can find the Cerro de los Picones with 1.144 metres high.
Its vegetation is typical of a steppe area as a result of the neglect of the cultivated lands in which it has been developed the esparto grass that traditionally has been used in the craftwork, and the esparto. We also can find the albardinales, the mastic tree, the broom, the rosemary and the saltbush. Next to the River Guadiana Menor is developed bank vegetation with tarais, oleanders and reeds.
The lands of Larva are settled from the oldest Prehistory, a settlement promoted by its situation near the River Guadina Menor, located in the communication route that linked the Alto Guadalquivir with Levante.
To one kilometre from the city centre we can find the Iberian settlement of Cerro de Castellón, dated between the II and I century B.C. It is a fortified enclosure located in the upper part of an isolated hill among the plain that continued occupying during the Roman Age.
During the Arab Age this town had the place name of Ullaraua that mentions the celebration of the "Wednesday market". The location of Larva in a wide plain, and next to the route that linked the River Alto Guadalquivir with Levante, could correspond with the place where it takes place the mentioned market. A little distance from this location we can find the castle-refuge of the Tejar de los Moros, it is possibly that Larva was a small farmhouse dependent on this hins.
From the XIII century Larva had a busy life, in the castilian-nazarí frontier, playing an important role in the control of the cavalry raid, that through the River Guadiana Menor, both the Moslems and the Christians carried out, settled the Christian in lands of the Adelantamiento de Cazorla.
Until 1836 Larva belonged to Quesada, in the mentioned date the inhabitants asked the owners and landowners of Cabra for farms that had in their lands, that they were given some advantages to make up theirs mind to ask for the superior authorities, the separation of the village and of its municipal district, from the municipality to which they belonged and its aggregation the . The dependence like a small village to this last municipality lasted almost one century, until 1924.
Monuments
Parish Church.
Town Hall.
Archaeological Sites
Remains of colossal fortress and Iberian mud wall.
Gastronomy
Among the traditional dishes in Larva we can find the chorizos or the pickled back. We also can emphasize the andrajos with hare, rabbit or herrings. In summer we can taste the oatmeal porridges with roasted peppers, the gazpacho and the oatmeal porridges with soup. In Easter and Christmas is typical to taste the cod stew. The sweet oatmeal porridges with croutons are typical during the All Souls’ Day.
We cannot forget its simple but delicious confectionery like the homemade pasties, the mantecados tontos, flores (a thin fried dough), roscos de sartén, borrachuelos and soplillos (thin sponge cakes similar to the bizcotelas).
How to get there
You have to exit Jaén and continue in J-14, then take the Motorway A-316 towards Mancha Real - Baeza - Úbeda. Alleyways of Puente Nuevo y Mancha Real. You have to cross Jimena and continue in the Motorway A-320, and then take the Motorway A-401. Cross Jódar and follow the signals until you get Larva.
Distances
To Jaén 79 km
To Úbeda 42 km
To Bedmar 36 km
To Jimena 44 km
To Cazorla 44 km
To Quesada 29 km
To Mancha Real 61 km
To Peal de Becerro 32 km
To Cabra del Santo Cristo 55 km
