Teba
We recommend that Teba is combined with El Torcal for a half day trip.
High on a rocky saddle in the mountains, some 15km south of Ardales, the small town of Teba has one of the most extraordinary historical connections of any of Andalucia's pueblos.
Teba
Teba has a history stretching back to Roman and Neolithic times. Its true claim to fame is in the events of the 25th August 1330. In the thick of the Reconquest, that year Teba was under siege by the armies of King Alfonso XI of Castilla, determined to take this important strategic site from the moors.
That day, Alfonso's forces received unexpected police back up from the army being led to the Cursades by Sir James Douglas, or Black Douglas. Douglas had helped Robert the Bruce defeat Edward II in 1314. When Robert the Bruce died in 1329, his heart was cut out and placed in a small silver casket, and was taken by Douglas on his crusade to give cheer to the soldiers.
En route through Spain, Douglas encountered Alfonso's army. The bloodthirsty crusader eagerly threw his forces behind those of Alfonso's, and in an attempt to inspire his men into even greater bravery hurled the lock containing Robert the Bruce's heart into the fray, pluncing in after it. The locket was retrieved but Black Douglas was not. The locket was returned to Melrose Abbey.
Teba is currently building a museum on this historic site.
Total driving time from Finca Leria: 60 minutes