A HISTORICAL – CULTURAL TOUR AROUND POSADAS An Introduction to Posadas Posadas is a Spanish town in the province of Córdoba, Andalucía. It is situated in the Gua dal qui vir Val ley along wit h oth er towns suc h as Almodo var del Río, Fuente Palmera, Guadalcazar, Hornachuelos, La Carlota and Palma del Río. Approximately 7,8 06 people live her e, a town 88 metres abo ve sea level and 32 kilome tres from Córdoba, the capital of the province. The Sierra de Posadas (the range of hills to the north) is a part of the World Networkof Biosphere Reserves and is protected by several environmental organisations. Rural tourism is of growing importance in the area not only because of the sierra but also because of the river valley here and the countryside beyond. The town of Posadas will live on in the literary history of Andalucia thanks to its appearance in La Florida de Inca, a work by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega -a famous historian and writer. In modern times, the town has its own railway station and to the north (in the foothills) runs the Spanish high speed train, known here as the AVE. which connects Madrid with Seville. The “Eduardo Torroja” bridge. This is the bridge that crosses the river to the south of the town. Designed by the engineerwhose name it bears, it was opened in 1951, a moment of great significance for Posadas, this being one of the very few important towns in the Guadalquivir Valley situated to the north of the river and thus having had historically very poor communications with other towns in the area. Its opening meant that the people ofPosadas no longer had to cross the river by boat. The bridge is 235 metres long, has seven pillars and eight arches; there is only one otherbridge in Europe that shares its same design. The river it crosses, the Guadlaquivir, is the most important in Andalucía, and has several tributaries, the most important of which is the Guadalbaida. 1