A beautiful village in the mountains of Cantabria, where you can find an artisan making espadrilles as well as an impressive noble house from the Baroque period. Something like this could be enough as a rapid summary of what Carmona is, but we better go step by step.
The mountains surrounding the town were one of the embryonic places of the Spain that we know. The Visigoth elites took refuge in them when the Arabs were eating the peninsula whole, back at the beginning of the eighth century. In the following , between the ones that were running away from battles and the ones that somehow managed to arrive in the area, the population grew more prominent, and settlements, which would be the seed of many villages that continue here today, were formed.
The fear of Muslin armies gradually dissipated, and even the nobles of Cabuérniga, which is the name of the municipality to which Carmona belongs, helped the Christian Kings in the Reconquest. That, of course, earned them rewards, lands and privileges, that is the reason why we have a few dynasties with their heads high around here, such as the Calderón, the Terán or the Mier.
The next thing that happened is that in the absence of Moors, Christians started fighting among themselves, and all those powerful families spent their evenings battling for this or that territory. This is how defensive towers and military buildings appeared in the Cantabrian Mountains, which served as homes for the feudal lords.
One of these towers is where today we find the Palacio de Mier, probably the most impressive building of this village. It dates from the seventeenth century, but it was rebuilt in 1715, and on its coat of arms we can read one of those inscriptions that give an idea of the mentality of those noble belligerents: “Adelante los Mier, por más valer” meaning “Go ahead the Miers, to be worth more”.
By then, Carmona and its entire region were in full splendour thanks to the money that came from the New World, and most of the mansions that are preserved today and give so much character to the town, date from those centuries. It was an Indiano called Pablo Fernández Calderón who, in the eighteenth century, provided the means to build the Church of San Roque and the Hermitage of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe.
As you can see, Carmona is full of attractions, and on top of that, it is still a peaceful place, unlike other towns most visited by tourists. So, before it gets too popular, don’t you feel like visiting it peacefully?
