San Martín de Valdeiglesias

El Castillo de la Coracera fue construido por Don Álvaro de Luna, valido del rey Juan II, en 1434. El condestable de Castilla compró por 30.000 maravedíes el pueblo y señorío de San Martín de Valdeiglesias a los monjes del cercano monasterio de Santa María la Real, dueños de las tierras de abadengo. Sirvió de residencia temporal de la reina Isabel la Católica al ser proclamada heredera de Castilla en la Jura de Guisando. Tras la ejecución de don Álvaro, el castillo pasó a ser propiedad de Gonzalo Chacón y más tarde de la casa ducal del Infantado hasta el siglo XIX, que quedó en manos del barón de Sacro Lirio, quien acometió reformas e integró algunos elementos ornamentales procedentes del palacio de Villena, otra de las propiedades de don Álvaro de Luna en el vecino municipio de Cadalso de los Vidrios. El castillo se encuentra en un magnífico estado de conservación y la visita cuenta con un sistema audiovisual que nos trasladará hasta el final del Medievo.

Located on one side of Plaza Real, San Martín church owes its origins to an interesting anecdote as it was built following a complaint lodged with the Council of Castile by the locals back in the 17th century. It’s dedicated to San Martín de Tours -immortalized by El Greco in 1597- the patron saint of welders, weavers, traders in general and textile manufacturers. The local festival is on 11 November. The work on the current building began in 1634 after the locals began a long legal proceeding (1622-1628) with the Court of Castile against those receiving the tithes. They were accused of not fulfilling their obligation of maintaining the temple. Due to financial hardship, only one-third of the project would ever be finished. The Herrerian style building has a very sombre yet monumental floor plan with three naves and a barrel vault ceiling. There is a seven-metre-high central dome over the transept. On the inside is a Baroque high altarpiece with a painting attributed to Rivera’s disciple, Lucas Jordán, which represents Saint Martin sharing his cape with a poor man. One of the chapels features a 15th-century altarpiece with the Virgen de la Nueva, the town’s patroness. Visitors can also see the Romanic style baptismal font and the Gothic style ivory carving of Nuestra Señora de la Estrella. At just 4 centimetres, this carving was owned by Alphonse X until he lost it during a hunting expedition in the area. At least that’s what’s written in "Las Cantigas”. The organ in the temple was built in 1894 by José Marlasca.

Although Madrid is a landlocked city, its rivers and reservoirs make it possible to enjoy a wide range of nautical sports. There are conducted water activities such as canoeing, sailing, rowing and rafting, among others.

Madrid’s largest reservoir is the Pantano de San Juan. It is home to the Royal Nautical Club of Madrid, which has nautical and sailing schools where you can obtain

official sailing certificates. This is the only sailing area and one with a Blue Flag certification in the Region of Madrid. Considered “Madrid’s beach”, it was built in 1955 to provide water and power to the south-east of the region. Located within the municipalities of San Martín de Valdeiglesias, El Tiemblo, Cebreros and Pelayos de la Presa, it is part of the River Alberche.

Visitors can enjoy 14 km of beach area only 70 km away from Madrid, in a superb natural environment, with quiet pools and small beaches of rocks and sand, surrounded by large pine and holm oak groves where they can have a well-deserved rest. The most visited zones are the “Cerro de San Esteban” and “El Yelmo”, and the best recreational areas are “Virgen de la Nueva” and “El Muro”.

The reservoir of San Juan has quays, restaurants, sailing clubs, camping areas, seasonal bars with open-air seating and even a nudist beach. Its waters conceal two important historical constructions that are part of the cultural heritage of San Martín de Valdeiglesias: a medieval bridge with eight arches that united the two banks of the river, and the ruins of the original shrine dedicated to La Virgen de la Nueva. You can spend the entire weekend in one of the many hotels in the area, or in a camping spot, if you’d like to have greater contact with nature. Enjoy one of the most refreshing ways to explore the Region of Madrid!

The Ecce Homo chapel was previously dedicated to Jude the Apostle as it held a relic of this saint on the inside. It disappeared at the end of the 18th century. This 15th century chapel was restored in the final decades of the 20th century. Here, there’s a large-sized cubicle with openings on the sides. The openings, which allow a great deal of light to enter, are arranged with two pointed arches and an octagonal central column. Yet the entrance door is an immense pointed arch with barely any decoration. The only thing visible are the little holes where the beams were inserted for the construction work. At the top, there’s an overhang decorated with stone balls surrounding the entire building which is covered by a hipped roof. An image of Cristo Ecce Homo is found before a granite altar on the inside. It’s protected by glass panels allowing views of the image. It now opens each Palm Sunday for palm leaf, olive branch and rosemary blessings.

The Picadas reservoir is quite close to the San Juan reservoir yet they are very different. Unlike the San Juan reservoir -which is wide and open-, the morphology of Picadas is much narrower and longer. This is because it is enclaved between two hillsides that stake out the river course over this stretch. These heavily inclined hillsides are covered with pine trees so it’s a very attractive sight. There’s a forest trail all along the reservoir which can only be done on foot or on bike. The entire area offers any visitors a place for recreation, especially families looking to get some contact with nature.

The Coracera castle has its own tourism office. There, they can inform you of plans, routes, restaurants and accommodation in San Martín de Valdeiglesias and the nearby area.

The number of buildings projected and constructed for the San Martín Station included four shelters for travellers, the dock, the garage and the toilets; a water tank and a moat for the swing bridge were also designed. There is now only one passenger building, the now "La Estación" Cultural Centre, where a multitude of exhibitions and important socio-cultural work is done for the locals. The garage is also still standing and being reused as a children's shelter. The passenger building has partially followed the 1884 project yet with a few changes. The main difference lies in the turret, which should have been added from the second floor yet was actually individualized from the ground floor and set back in accordance with the rest of the building. Marked externally by the large concrete blocks, the building rises above the level of the road (where the track was located) which is why several entrances to the station were created. The compositional and formal quality that railway company buildings generally have is not observed at the San Martín Station. It is not known whether this is because of the number of changes to the project or because there was an attempt at an architecture of greater significance since it is one of the main towns on the line. A small amphitheatre was added at the bottom.

In the mid-19th century, a group of residents of San Martín de Valdeiglesias took the initiative of building a casino; in other words, a social venue for gatherings, debates, theatrical performances and concerts, among other activities. This was the "Sociedad Café-Teatro” of San Martín de Valdeiglesias. In the 1960s, the casino stopped operating and, at the initiative of the Town Hall and with the support of the Region of Madrid, it was recovered in the year 2000 and rebuilt to house a theatre room for up to 200 people, two exhibition rooms and a cafeteria.

The wineries Bodegas de Las Moradas de San Martín, Bodega Bernabeleva, Bodega Marañones, Bodegas Don Álvaro de Luna, Bodegas y Viñedos Valleyglesias, and Las Bodegas Ca´di Mat offer evidence of the winemaking vocation of San Martín de Valdeiglesias and the areas surrounding it. The hillsides are covered in vines with the winding streams supplying the necessary water and the hundred-year-old techniques for winemaking are combined with the most up-to-date knowledge of viticulture. What happens is a real spectacle on the palate of whomever tests the result. White, rosé and red wines made with the Albillo Real and Garnacha varieties, among others. These wines are difficult to imitate and easily recognizable due to the characteristics. Some of them have a specific wine tourism offer. An option that will meet the expectations of the best sybarites.

In the town of San Martín de Valdeiglesias, 75 km from the capital, you can find The Enchanted Forest, a surprising botanical garden, the first of its kind in Europe. Its originality lies in its insertion in the middle of nature. Here you can lose yourself in its many paths and enjoy the more than three hundred living sculptures of surprising sizes.

It is an ideal park to enjoy with the little ones. More than 500 plant species from around the world will transport you to a real enchanted forest, which also houses mazes, various exhibitions, aromatic plants, etc. Take the Cactus Route, the Jungle Route or the Arts Route and let yourself be amazed by the magic of this enchanted place.

You can stay nearby and plan a truly magical getaway. The A Orillas del Lago apartments are just 10 minutes from the site and offer comfortable family bungalows on the shores of the San Juan reservoir

The locals in San Martín de Valdeiglesias began building their bullring in 1854, completely financing it by themselves: nearly 20,000 pesetas at the time. It was built over the former Convento de la Concepción convent once home to Franciscan nuns. Due to the ecclesiastical expropriation carried out by Juan Álvarez Mendizábal in the mid-19th century, this convent almost entirely disappeared when the land was sold. Still remaining today is the main door which is used as the “triumphant exit” for bullfighting. Made of granite, it forms a large arch framed within an alfiz. It was inaugurated in 1856 although the inaugural line-up is considered to have fought in 1859. The sign has been reproduced in ceramic and now hangs on the main facade. The ring has been at the centre of many relevant events throughout its history such as during the festivals of Virgen de la Nueva in 1860, when bullfighter Martina García, one of the first women in bullfighting, participated. It’s a third-class bullring with a deeply-rooted bullfighting tradition. The all-time greats of bullfighting have come here from José Antonio Suárez, Palomo Linares, Rivera Ordoñez to José Tomás, among others. Plus, it’s been used as the background to several films. Worth noting is the fact that the "Sociedad Taurómaca de San Martín de Valdeiglesias” was constituted in 1854 to carry out the construction. The ring suffered such deterioration in the beginning of the 1950s that the Town Hall decided to buy it. It did so on 5 November 1956. Wood was used to build it following the norms of the time with a capacity for 2600 seats and a ring with a diameter of 45 metres and a 2 metre-wide alley. It’s undergone several renovations over the years. Capacity was expanded to the current 3676 in 1990.