Michael Coy
YOU may occasionally come across a botijo in an antiques shop. These are traditional clay water jars which ‘sweat’. For many centuries, Spanish people have relied on them in summer to keep their water cold.
Because a small percentage of the botijo’s contents are lost through evaporation, the jar stays cool. It’s exactly the same process as sweating.
The clay, which has to be semi-porous, comes from Andujar.
Andujar is a Spanish municipality of 40,000 people in the province of Jaen, in Andalucia. It is 50 miles from Cordoba and 18 from Bailen.
The municipality is divided by the Guadalquivir River. The northern part is where the Natural Park of the Sierra de Andujar is situated.
To the south lie agricultural fields and countryside. The city proper is located on the right bank of the Guadalquivir and the Madrid-Cordoba railway.
A quick word about the mighty Guadalquivir. It rises near here, in the quiet north-east of Andalucia, and flows the 400 hot miles west across the region, before entering the Atlantic at Sanlucar.
Hot, because its vast flood plain traps the air in summer—and the cities that stand along the Guadalquivir (Seville and Cordoba) are proverbial for their sweltering temperatures.
Andujar is also a very hot city in summer. The average daytime temperature in July and August does not fall below 37 degrees Celsius, or 99 Fahrenheit.
A Roman settlement, Andujar was blessed with (and still has) a Roman bridge, and the river back then was navigable downstream to Cordoba.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, it existed as a Visigothic town named Sturgi.
In 1227, the first Christian inhabitants arrived in Baeza, Andujar and Martos, although some sources suggest that the repopulation of Andujar did not occur until 1228. In 1467, the title of ‘City’ was granted to Andujar by Henry IV of Castile.
During the Napoleonic Wars, the city was occupied by French troops in 1808. General Pierre Dupont de l’Etang, after conquering Cordoba, established his headquarters in Andujar.
But many visitors come for Andujar’s true glory – the lynx.
Although the Iberian lynx has been a protected species since 1966, this wonderful feline is still in danger of extinction.
At present, only two populations remain viable and established for the development and proliferation of the species: one in Donana, and one in the Sierra de Andujar Natural Park. The latter is where the largest population is found.
The peaceful scrubland and holm oak forests of the Sierra de Andujar have become one of the last refuges for this extraordinary animal, which is difficult to observe in the wild.
The Iberian lynx resembles a large cat, with spotted fur, a very short tail, and pointy ears ending in a characteristic tuft of hair like a paintbrush.
It inhabits the quietest parts of the park, and at dawn, after a stealthy nocturnal search for game, it usually receives the first rays of sun as they fall on the warm granite stones.
Rabbits are its main source of food. Its survival depends, to a large extent, on the health of rabbit populations.
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Signs on trails in the Natural Park warn of the lynx’s presence and urge visitors to remain calm and exercise extreme caution while driving, to avoid accidents.
The best-known local holiday is the Pilgrimage of the Virgen de la Cabeza, celebrated on the last Sunday in April. During this pilgrimage, the faithful visit the sanctuary on the hill of the Cabezo.
A local legend states that on the night of 12 August 1227, a shepherd from Colomera named Juan Alonso de Rivas was watching over livestock belonging to a neighbour from Arjona when he began to see strange lights at the top of a hill.
He also heard the incessant sound of a bell. He climbed the hill and there found the image of the Virgen de la Cabeza.
A local fair (feria) is also held in September, historically associated with cattle-raising, though this aspect has diminished in recent years. Despite that, the fair still features stands for the animals!
