Palos de la Frontera

The earliest firm record of Palos dates to around 1295, when Sancho IV granted the tower of Palos to an admiral, a concession confirmed and extended by later kings. At that point the settlement was tiny, surviving on coastal fishing in the sheltered waters of the Río Tinto. The town's real founder is considered to be Álvar Pérez de Guzmán, who received Palos from Juan I of Castile in 1379 at the age of fourteen. He exempted the first fifty settler families from royal taxes, established a municipal legal framework, and turned the poor local land over to olive cultivation. His widow, Elvira de Ayala, continued his work until her death in 1434.

By the 1470s Palos had grown to around 2,700 inhabitants and was prospering through Atlantic fishing and trade as far as Guinea and northern Europe. Its sailors became specialists in ocean navigation, and the town was drawn into the naval rivalry between Castile and Portugal. When the Treaty of Alcaçovas in 1479 handed Portugal dominance over Atlantic-African waters, the men of Palos lost fishing grounds essential to their livelihood — and frequently ignored the treaty's terms to survive.

The parish church of San Jorge Mártir is Gothic-Mudéjar in style, with a Mudéjar doorway known as the Door of the Betrothed. Inside are an alabaster figure of St Anne, a Tuscan ceramic altarpiece, and Renaissance frescoes. It was here that the royal order was read aloud commanding the townspeople to ready two caravels for Columbus's voyage. The harbour of Palos was where Columbus departed on 3 August 1492, with the Santa María, the Pinta, and the Niña. The ruins of the castle sit on a hill beside the church. The Casa Museo de Martín Alonso Pinzón holds navigation instruments, paintings, and maps from the era of the Discovery; visits require an appointment at the town hall. The Fontanilla, a brick Mudéjar fountain shelter built in the 15th century, is where tradition holds that the three ships took on water before sailing.

A short distance out on the road to Huelva stands the Franciscan monastery of La Rábida, built in the 14th and 15th centuries, where Columbus stayed before his voyage and where the friars supported his plans. The church holds a crucifix and a 13th-century Virgin of Miracles before which Columbus and his crew prayed. The monastery also contains frescoes by Daniel Vázquez Díaz, a cloister, and a museum of Discovery-era artefacts. It was declared a National Monument in 1856. Nearby are the Muelle de las Carabelas, where full-scale replicas of the three ships can be visited, a botanical garden with native and American species, and a monument to the discoverers reached by an avenue lined with the coats of arms of Ibero-American countries in tilework.

Palos sits about 14 km from Huelva city, 9 km from Moguer, and a short drive from the beaches of Mazagón. The local food is worth attention: white prawns, regular prawns, and crayfish represent the seafood; Iberian ham and Huelva County wines are also local staples. Typical dishes include mackerel with tomato, cuttlefish with potatoes, and a bean dish called "beans enzapatás." The town's main agricultural product is the strawberry, which drives the local economy.

Almond and citron hornazos are the pastry to look for.