The story is leaving some loose ends that are difficult to resolve. Even more so when there is hardly a trace left to clarify how we could have arrived at such an atypical situation. the part of La Jara has 32 inhabitants and that of Alía less than 20.
Between the two there is only one street, the so-called Término, where one side of the sidewalk is taxed in Cáceres and the other in Toledo.
In the Sierra de los Puertos it is the most southerly, it is also the easiest natural way to transport the mountains to the south and west. The height of the population is 666 meters, being the biggest mountainous obstacle that we will find in this route. It is the place where the Altamira mountain ranges lower their levels to give rise to the Raso that dies in Guadiana.
However, the feeling of being lost is important, since the up and down is continuous looking for the straight line between hills and streams that irregularly dig valleys often deep, always enigmatic and never predictable. Fortunately, there is a national road that crosses these places, the N-502 that connects Avila with Cordoba, that is to say, the northern sub-plateau with the upper Guadalquivir.
This allows quick access for the many visitors who come every weekend.
The origin of the name is uncertain; the most ancient note is from the year 1133 in which King Alfonso VII of Castile entered with his army in Moorish lands passing through Puerto Rey, located in the “sierra de los puertos,” in the direction of Cordoba. But he returned from Seville to Talavera, passing through the Puerto de Cañamero (Puerto Llano), the strait of Peña Amarilla in Alía and the Puerto de San Vicente (“Puerto del Carvajal” in the Sierra de Altamira).
On September 11, 1262, it appears in a sentence “on the terms between the Guadiana River and the Sierra de los Puertos, which are called the Puerto del Rey and Caruaial and Amariella”.
The last population growth was experienced with the construction of the Cijara dam. It is said that the old inn ceased to be solitary to receive the company of other houses with which came some services.
Tourism development has made possible the creation of several companies that offer original and competitively priced accommodations and restaurants. You will find in the game dishes unknown delicacies; in the traditional stews of the grandmother flavors that remained in the memory or the taste of the tortilla de patatas of always.
