It is the entry point and base for visits to the Natural Park of Sierras de Cazorla, Segura y Las Villas Natural Park, a vast protected area of magnificent river gorges and forests.

It takes its name from the old cathedral which, unfinished and damaged by floods in the seventeenth century, was later burnt by French troops.

Above the square sits an austere, reconstructed Moorish castle tower called La Yedra.

A recommended excursion is to the nearby village of La Iruela, which has a ruined Moorish fortress perched on a daunting rock peak.

A number of battles were fought here during the Reconquista until Don Rodrigo Jimenez de Rada, archbishop of Toledo, reconquered it in 1231 and made it the seat of his archbishopric.

For such a small town there are a surprising number of three and four star hotels and countless rural guest houses.