Puente de Génave
Puente de Génave is located to the north-east of the province, in the natural entrance to Sierra de Segura. Its spot is made up of olive grove lands and mountainous areas.
The region has 13 towns: , , , , La Puerta de Segura, , , Santiago-Pontones, Segura de la Sierra, Siles, Torres de Albánchez, and Villarrodrigo.
The first proofs about human settlement date back to the Palaeolithic, along the terraces of the River Guadalimar and in the Hill Mirallejo, associated with the hunters-pickers culture. From the Bronze Age we can observe several settlements located in hills with easy defence: Hill of Los Dos Hermanos, Guru, etc.
The present location of the town had its origin during the Roman Age with the construction of El Puente Viejo that it still exists, although it is quite run down. During the Islamic occupation this town had its culminating period in the Almohad Age with the construction of the fortress of Las Torres de Peñolite, between the XII and XIII centuries.
After the Christian conquest it was part, together with the rest of the lands of Segura, of the alfoz La Orden de Santiago. In Felipe II’s Relaciones Topógraficas made in 1575 it is mentioned the existence of a flour mil next to the Puente Viejo, "industry" that in the course of time was proliferating. About the middle of the XIX century the city centre consisted of a series of isolated farmhouses: Pedro Nares, the mentioned mill, Las Ánimas and La Mina.
From these dates until the middle of the XX century the city centre was growing and consolidating under the protection of the breaking-up of new lands in the Banks of the River Guadalimar an event that attracted new colonists the same way as the politics of public works exerted during Primo de Rivera’s Dictatorship (1923-1930), that made the construction of the road Córdoba-Valencia possible and the unfinished railway Baeza-Utiel, which brought about the arrival of plentiful labour, offices, petrol station and a number of additional economic activities. This growth promoted its independence from Puerta de Segura in 1933.
The town reached its highest expansion during the fifties with the construction of the reservoir El Tranco and the establishment of a sawmill on the part of Renfe. But it was about relevant works that did not create stable job from what in the sixties the tendency inverted spectacularly, with stages of many deaths, towns that only have been stabilized in the eighties.
In the nineties, Puente de Génave takes off like municipality. The extension of the residential area of La Vicaría is a progress for a town that has not stopped developing during these last years. The construction of a State Secondary School, a Numerous Uses Enclosure, a new health centre, where accident and emergency department 24 hours is offered, the Unit of Daytime Stay...have turned Puente de Génave into a dynamic town and that offers their inhabitants a huge variety of services that will be culminate in the opening of the Hospital de Alta Resolución in the spring of 2005.
Monuments
Church of San Isidro, at the end of XIX century.
Archaeological Sites
Ruins of the Arab castle. It was destroyed by Rodrigo Manrique.
Cave of Los Esqueletos and Spot of Las Zorreras (Neolithic).
Puente Viejo. A Roman construction with one span and semicircular arch.
Castle of Peñolite. Remains of the castle built by the Arabs.
Town Planning
Urban area well preserved.
Peñolite. A small village that belongs to Puente de Génave.
Gastronomy
The gastronomy is the typical of many towns from the sierra. All revolves around the Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We can taste the following culinary dishes: ajo de harina (cod stew with tomato sauce, pepper, garlic, saffron, paprika, cumin…), galianos (gazpacho), andrajos (maize flat cakes with tomato, onion, garlic, red pepper and rabbit), ajoatao (potatoes, garlic, lemon juice, egg, oil and salt), gachamiga (flat cake), ajopringue (a dish made with bread and liver), the pork by-products and the segureño’s lamb. Referring to the confectionery we have to mention the flores (fried flour pastry with milk and eggs, fried and honey), Easter panetes, fried bread rolls, suspiros (almond and white cakes), enredos, all with mistela.
The town is part of the Extra Virgin Olive Oil production area.
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. Take the alleyway of Puente Nuevo and cross Baeza. Continue in the Motorway A-316, alleyway of Úbeda. In the roundabout take the exit 3 and continue in the Motorway A-301. Then turn right in N-322. Alleyways of El Campillo and Villacarrillo. Turn left in N-322ª and you get Puente de Génave.
Distances
To Jaén 129 km
To Siles 26 km
To Hornos 28 km
To Orcera 16 km
To Zapateros 51 km
To El Moralico 16 km
To Beas de Segura 22 km
To Camporredondo 22 km
To Navas de San Juan 56 km
To La Puerta de Segura 7,5 km
To Santisteban del Puerto 43 km |
