Alta Gracia sits where the Córdoba plains begin to buckle into the Sierras Chicas, and its Jesuit estancia is the reason the town exists. The Jesuits established the estate in the seventeenth century, and by the eighteenth it was a thriving enterprise: a church, a residence around a cloister, workshops, and an ingenious dam with a reservoir feeding irrigation canals. It was part of the great network of Jesuit properties around Córdoba, collectively a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2000, which funded the university and college in the city.
When the Jesuits were expelled from Spanish territories in 1767, the estancia passed through various hands. One of them belonged to Santiago de Liniers, the Spanish officer who led the defence of Buenos Aires against the British and became viceroy. In the twentieth century the town drew other names: the composer Manuel de Falla spent his last years in Alta Gracia, and the young Ernesto Guevara grew up in a house here, now a museum. Few small towns carry so many stories at once.
The ride from Córdoba takes you southwest on good roads, through suburbs and then open country, with the sierras rising ahead in blue folds. Alta Gracia is a town of around forty thousand, with fuel, banks, restaurants and plenty of cafés around the plaza, so practical needs are no trouble at all. The surrounding hills offer winding roads and reservoirs, with plenty of lookouts, and the climate is comfortable most of the year. Summer afternoons can bring sharp storms; winters are dry, with clear, cold mornings.
Try the regional food, such as empanadas, locro on cold days and a thick, sweet dulce de leche, and take time to walk the old estancia grounds. The clock tower, the church and the tranquil reservoir make a satisfying morning. If you are lucky enough to be here on a quiet weekday, the shade of the old trees and the smell of wood smoke create a strong sense of the past.