Martos
Martos is a town located to the north of the region called Sierra Sur, it has the biggest extension and population of the area. Its municipal district is olive-producer and has been reviewed like the best olive grove in the world due to its production. Around the olive grove has been developed an important oil industry. Recently, the industry is came in the economic industry of the town, being nowadays the most diversified industrial nucleus in the town and the one with the strongest growth, together with , and using up labour from the neighbouring towns and, even, from .
The municipal boundaries of Martos are the following: at north it borders on Torredonjimeno and , at east on Los Villares and , at south on and , at west on Santiago de Calatrava and Almedinilla (this last of Córdoba).
The origins of Martos date back to the Prehistory. The development of a town in a place like this is due to the existence of the coordinator nucleous of population during all the history in Martos, called "la Peña".
Its strategic location, the existence in its surrounding areas of springs, and the natural defence it offered, were the most determining factors that brought about the human settlement in its hills. Despite that own defence that offers the La Peña, the different civilizations that will go through Martos, will reinforce it with new defensive buildings.
We have proofs of different lithic materials that belong to the Palaeolithic, however, the oldest documented statements, belong to the Neolithic. The remains found in the area of the sports centre belong to this period, known such as "El Molinillo", "Huertas Viejas" and "La Alberquilla". They are underground structures, intended to housing, the storage and transformation of raw, funeral and defensive.
The sedentary lifestyle and the cereals crop will start in this age, in settlements like the one called "La Nava", "Piedras de Cobos", "Atalaya de Martos", "Santo Nicasio" and "Cortijo de Tafú". From now on the second fourth of the second millennium B.C., the agrarian and sheepherding culture will change, and will start to settle in slopes, making the most of the natural terraces. In this way, the massive burial in necropolis will be replaced with the individual one. There is evidence of this fact in some places such as "Torrevíboras", "Las Provincias", or "Cerro Jurel".
Monuments
Town Hall
Pillar of the Fuente Nueva
Parish Church of Santa Marta
Convent of San Francisco
Casa Regionalista
Monument to the Constitucion
Monument to III Año Mundial del Olivo
Monument to the Hnos. Carvajales
Gastronomy
In the gastronomy of Martos the extra virgin olive oil is the fundamental ingredient: hoyo (bread and oil), marteñas’ fried breadcrumbs, relleno de carnaval (pork, ham, turkey breast, egg and milk), marteño’s gazpacho, pipirrana (a salad with onion, tomato and cucumber), ajoblanco (a cold soup with bread, crushed almonds, garlic, water, olive oil, salt and vinegar), orange mince "graná" diced vegetable salad, gazpachuelo (fish stock with potatoes and bread, garlic, oil), encebollado (a soup made of tuna, tomatoes and onions), gachas (oatmeal porridges) and the great variety of olives "aliñás" (seasoned). We have also to mention the confectionery of the Madres Trinitarias, between we can emphasize the costrada (puff pastry pie) and the perrunillas (flat cakes with butter, flour and sugar).
How to get there
You have to exit Jaén and continue through Road of Córdoba then take the Motorway A-316 and the exit towards Salida 79 - Martos - Santiago de Calatrava, A-6052. In the roundabout, take the exit 1 and then the Road from Úbeda to Málaga. You get Martos.
Distances
To Jaén 23 km
To Alcaudete 25 km
To Jamilena 6 km
To Los Villares 16 km
To Villardompardo 20 km
To Torre del campo 10 km
To Torredonjimeno 9,5 km
To Fuensanta de Martos 13 km
To Higuera de Calatrava 21 km
To Santiago de Calatrava 21 km |
