Look just ahead and to your right as you’re walking up this old stone slope called Cuesta de Belén. The Covachas will be hard to miss-they’re that row of tall, pointy arches set right into the wall, almost like a secret shopfront built for medieval wizards! Notice how the stone glows golden in the sunlight, and check out those strange, lizard-like creatures carved above each arch. Legend has it, if you hustle past too quickly, you might miss their sly little faces peeking down at you.
Let’s imagine ourselves back at the end of the 1400s, when this was the center of Sanlúcar’s bustling commerce. Picture busy merchants unloading silks and spices, their voices echoing beneath the Gothic arches. The Covachas, also known as the Shops of the Serpents, were built for traders, and their style was meant to impress. The thirteen pointed arches rest on chunky pillars, and above these, you’ll spot something straight out of a fantasy tale-a parade of stone serpents and basilisks. Don’t worry, these beasts haven’t snacked on anyone in centuries.
This loggia was commissioned by Enrique Pérez de Guzmán, the second Duke of Medina Sidonia, and has survived all sorts of drama: fancy towers built on top of it, swaps with monks over a butcher shop (talk about trading up!), and even being partly buried and hidden from view until the 1980s, when restoration set it free again. For a while, the Covachas kept a low profile, but now they’re declared a protected treasure, once again sticking out their serpentine tongues at passers-by.
As you stand here, let your imagination roam through time: merchants haggling, nobles strutting, and the ever-watchful stone serpents ensuring nobody gets up to too much mischief. If these ancient walls could whisper, I bet they’d have plenty of juicy secrets. Maybe next time you visit, you’ll hear one!
Now, follow the curve of the street as we head onward-if you hear any hissing, don’t panic, it’s probably just the wind… or is it?
