La Serranía

La Serranía is a comarca located in the northwest of the Spanish province of Guadalajara. It extends for more than 3,000 square kilometres (1,200 sq mi), with a rugged topography.

It features a large number of natural, historical, artistic, and ethnological items of interest. Much of the Serranía is protected natural area, such as places of community importance, bird refuges, and the natural parks of the Sierra Norte de Guadalajara and the Barranco del Río Dulce.

The peaks of the Sierra de Ayllón dominate the steep landscape of the western part of the comarca, characterized by its rugged terrain and its high average elevation, more than 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). In the eastern part, in the Pela and Ministra mountain ranges, the elevations are lower and the slopes much less steep, generally below 1,500 metres (4,900 ft).

The abundance of slate and gneiss, especially in the Sierra de Ayllón, along with the associated nature of oaks, junipers and beech trees, have provided materials for the construction of black architecture, very well preserved in the municipalities of Campillo de Ranas, Majaelrayo and Valverde de los Arroyos. Numerous castles, such as those of Galve de Sorbe, Atienza, Sigüenza or Jadraque, the temples that make up the rural Romanesque and the historical-artistic ensembles of Atienza, Palazuelos and Sigüenza, also constitute some of the architectural and tourist attractions of the Serranía de Guadalajara. To these is added the ethnological and cultural heritage in the form of festivals, such as the Caballada de Atienza (declared a Festival of National Tourist Interest), the dances of the Octava del Corpus de Valverde de los Arroyos, the dances of the Santo Niño de Majaelrayo and the botargas from numerous locations.