Vara de Rey: Churches, Festivals and the La Mancha Landscape

Vara de Rey can be discovered through its architecture, festive celebrations and landscape.

Other destinations that you can also discover include Valdemoro-Sierra, La Almarcha, Cólliga, Uña, Fuertescusa, Carboneras De Guadazaón, Las Zomas and Las Valeras.

Culture and history

The parish church of Nuestra Señora de la Asunción is a 16th-century building. Its defining features include an octagonal apse and a Renaissance portal. Slightly outside the town centre stands the rectangular Ermita de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, also a 16th-century building. The free-standing Ermita de San Sebastián dates from the same century and has a Latin-cross floor plan.

The Palacio del Marqués de Valdeguerrero is a 16th-century building complex with a three-sided Renaissance courtyard. Its façade has two heraldic shields. Vara de Rey’s traditional Cubos and Chozas offer a different insight into the history of rural architecture: they served farmers and shepherds as shelters in bad weather and places to spend the night.

The Battle of Vara del Rey took place on 11 August 1873 during the Third Carlist War. A memorial to those who fell in this battle is preserved in Vara de Rey. A walk through the town centre and the surroundings of Vara de Rey makes it possible to place the events of 1873 within the surrounding landscape of La Mancha.

Festivals and local life

The main day of the patron-saint celebrations in honour of the Virgen de la Asunción in Vara de Rey is 15 August. The programme includes dances, bull events, processions, communal meals, marathons, bicycle races, football matches and frontenis.

The celebrations on the day of the Virgen del Rosario begin with a nighttime fire, known as the Lumbraera, at the Ermita del Rosario. The following day, a mass and a procession take place. Holy Week in Vara de Rey includes processions on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

On Wednesday mornings, a market with itinerant vendors takes place in Plaza Cuéllar. The market, festival calendar and processions each place emphasis on different things: you can plan your days around a fixed date or explore the town without such an occasion.

Cuisine and regional products

The local cuisine of Vara de Rey adapts traditional dishes from La Mancha and the province of Cuenca to the local culinary tradition. The products used include mushrooms, champignons and saffron, which are abundant locally. Caldereta de cordero is usually cooked and eaten in a Perol.

The La Mancha landscape

The surroundings of Vara de Rey are characterised by the wide plains and dry-farmed agricultural land typical of La Mancha conquense. The quarries of Vara de Rey have influenced the architecture of the area; their ravine-like cuts can still be seen at the entrance to the town.

Fountains are distributed throughout the municipality of Vara de Rey. Together with the open agricultural land and the cuts made by the quarries, they create various landscape motifs that can be distinguished from one another when exploring the town and its surroundings.

Parks and activities

A park in Vara de Rey has a playground, a pétanque court and fitness equipment. A park in Vara de Rey also has a flower-filled garden, swings for children, skate facilities and a multi-purpose sports court for football and basketball.

For the higher-level travel overview: Cuenca.