Antequera is not on most international visitors' maps. It sits in the geographical centre of Andalusia - equidistant from Seville, Malaga, Granada, and Cordoba - a position that made it important throughout its history and now makes it convenient for the high-speed rail network.
The AVE from Seville Santa Justa to Antequera-Santa Ana station takes 55 minutes. The station, however, is 12 kilometres north of the town - a consequence of the routing of the high-speed line through the limestone hills. From the station, a local taxi to the town centre takes 15 minutes and costs approximately €20.
Antequera: The Town
Antequera (40,000 people) is a white town built on the floor of a broad valley ringed by limestone peaks. The town itself sits on the flat valley floor. The Peña de los Enamorados to the northeast - a rock formation whose profile resembles a human face - and the dramatic cliffs of the Torcal de Antequera limestone massif to the south are visible from the town centre.
The historic centre contains a 15th-century castle (Alcazaba) on the hill above town (a gentle climb rather than a steep one), a series of late Gothic and Baroque churches, and the Plaza de San Sebastian, the main square, where the morning pace of a February weekday feels exactly right for someone who ran 26.2 miles the day before yesterday.
The Museo de la Ciudad de Antequera (City Museum) holds the extraordinary Efebo de Antequera - a 1st-century AD bronze statue of a young man, found in a local Roman villa in 1955, that is one of the finest bronzes of the Roman period found in Hispania. Entry is free. The galleries are flat.
The Dolmens
The specific reason to come to Antequera is the Conjunto Arqueologico Dolmenes de Antequera - a UNESCO World Heritage Site containing three megalithic monuments that are among the largest and best-preserved in the world.
The Dolmen de Menga (3700 to 3200 BC) is the oldest and most impressive: a covered passage tomb built from enormous limestone slabs, 25 metres long and 4 metres high at the chamber, topped by massive capstones weighing up to 180 tonnes. The largest single stone in any European megalithic monument is one of Menga's capstones. Entry through the narrow passage brings you into the main chamber. The orientation of the passage aligns with the Peña de los Enamorados rock formation on the horizon - one of the earliest known examples of landscape-oriented funerary architecture.
The Dolmen de Viera (3000 BC), immediately adjacent, is a narrower passage tomb of 31 metres. The Tholos de El Romeral (1800 BC), 2 kilometres west, is a circular chamber tomb with a corbelled dome.
The visitor centre and the paths between the monuments are entirely flat and paved. Entry to the archaeological complex is free.
February at the dolmens: The monuments are open Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays). In February you will often be alone in the Menga chamber, which is the correct way to experience a 5,700-year-old room.
Where to Stay and Eat
The Parador de Antequera, in a modern building on the Paseo Garcia del Olmo, is the central choice.
Restaurante Arte de Cozina on Carranque is the current benchmark for serious Antequera cooking. The porra antequerana - a cold soup thicker than Cordoba's salmorejo, made from tomatoes, peppers, bread, and olive oil, served with tuna and hard-boiled egg - is the dish specific to Antequera.