Pastrana

Pastrana's origins go back to a Carpetian settlement that the Roman praetor Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus destroyed in 180 BC. A century later it was rebuilt by the consul Paternus Paternianus, whose name it carried into the Arab period, when the current name took shape.

In 1174, King Alfonso VIII gave Pastrana and nearby Zorita de los Canes to the Order of Calatrava. The town grew steadily under that arrangement, gaining the formal status of a township in 1369 under King Enrique II, and remaining under Calatrava rule until 1541. During the medieval period it also had a Jewish community with its own synagogue; in January 1493 the Crown transferred that building to the local clergy.

The town reached its peak under the ducal family, but when Philip II had Ana de Mendoza, the Princess of Éboli, imprisoned in her own Ducal Palace in 1579 — where she remained until her death in 1592 — and the dukes moved their residence to Madrid, Pastrana's decline began. Writer Camilo José Cela passed through and recorded it in his 1948 travelogue *Viaje a la Alcarria*. In 2019 the town joined the association Los Pueblos Más Bonitos de España.

The Collegiate Church (Colegiata de Pastrana) is a listed cultural monument. The Fuente de los Cuatro Caños, a fountain built in 1588, sits at the heart of the town's traditional streetscape.

The Ducal Palace on the Plaza de la Hora now belongs to the University of Alcalá. The Convent of San José was founded by Saint Teresa of Ávila, and Pastrana is one of seventeen stops on the Huellas de Santa Teresa pilgrimage route — a cultural itinerary with no fixed order or time limit. The Convent of San Pedro is where Saint John of the Cross established the reformed Carmelites; it now houses small museums with mystical artefacts. The Convent of San Francisco has a brick façade and cloister, and the Convent of the Concepción Francisca is also in town.

The Calle de la Palma holds several notable buildings: the palaces of the Inquisition, of the Burgos family, and of the Calatrava knights, as well as the former synagogue. The Plaza del Deán is lined with historic buildings. The Plaza de Toros, one of the oldest bullrings in Guadalajara province, sits among the old houses of the Albaicín quarter. The Ermita de los Remedios holds special protected status.

The main road into town is the CM-200. From Madrid, take the A-2 motorway to Guadalajara, then the N-320 and on to the CM-200. Signposted free car parks sit on the edge of town; the advice is to leave your car there and walk.

Pastrana's local food includes roast and stew lamb, migas, gachas, fish, game, and morteruelo. The Alcarria honey (Denominación de Origen Miel de la Alcarria), made from wild lavender, rosemary, and thyme, is worth buying, as are the local sweets — yemas de Santa Teresa and bizcochos borrachos. Restaurants include El Cenador de las Monjas (Calle de las Monjas, s/n), Mesón Castilla (Calle Casino 2), and Asador El Molino (Calle Moriscos 13).