4. Puerta de la Hoya (I)

Puerta de la Hoya. The orography.

The Sierra de Archidona embraces two mountain chains, one to the north and the other one to the south, leaving between them a hollow known as Hoya de Archidona.

The Hoya is shaped like a natural cirque, oval-shaped, in which we can see an inner area, relatively flat, and the mountainous belt of the sierra that surrounds it. At the western end there is a large opening in the rocky wall that, known as Puerta de la Hoya (Hoya’s Gate), allows the access.

The sides of the «gate» are formed by two vertical rocky walls that, seen from inside La Hoya, frame the panoramic view of the Vega de Archidona and the Peña de los Enamorados.

The type of material of the Sierra de Archidona – calcareous, limestone and dolomites – has led to the creation of a karstic landscape, where the limestone pavement stands out, shaping its slopes and the cavities, such as the Cueva de las Grajas; the pits/cavities are used by birds to nest (for example: the Alpine swift, the peregrine falcon or the red-billed chough).

A rural road crosses longitudinally the enclosure.