The rich natural heritage of Jaén has made it the province with the most protected natural areas in Spain, with 304.174 hectares. Its towns located in four nature parks house a monumental legacy of great artistic value and they hold a rich schedule of festivities.
A common factor to many of these towns is the presence of fighting bulls in its fiestas, which accentuates the unique regional character of its street scenes. In the natural Park of Las Sierras de Cazorla Segura y las Villas; Chilluevar; Torres de Albanchez;Castellar; Villanueva del Arzobispo; montizón; Orcera; génave and villarrodrigo y siles running of the bulls events are held during their fiestas in September.
The Divina Pastora Fair a festivity of a religious character which has deep roots in jaen, is held on 5 September and days later, in October, the San Lucas Fair has the honour of closing the bullfighting season in Andalusia which it does with beautiful exhibitions of rejoneo (mounted bullfighting or with horse-drawn carriage rides through the streets of Jaen. And just so nobody gets bored at these fiestas there is an assortment of events: the international Chess Open Tournament or the Milla International de otoño race.
Honour must go though to El Abuelo during Holy Week which has been declared of tourist interest. In the pre-dawn hours of good Friday in the streets of Jaen all you hear is I’m going with El Abuelo and not without reason. The departure and the journey with Nuestro padre Jesus Nazareno sharpen the senses and increase the fervour of the brotherhood members.
