Places to Visit
The Costa Del Sol is famous throughout the world for endless days of brilliant sunshine and fantastic sandy beaches, set in some of the liveliest coastal resorts to be found anywhere in Europe.
However, there is also plenty going on in the inland region of Andalucia, and there are some fantastic unspoilt Spanish towns and villages that are well worth a visit.
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Size - 21 square kilometres. Population - approx 3,000
Tourist Information: Town Hall, Calle Alameda, 2 (29240). Telephone : +34 952 489 100 |
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The territory of Valle de Abdalajís is almost completely encircled by the extensive municipality of Antequera and only a small part of it - just a narrow corridor - opens onto the Guadalhorce valley.
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A large number of prehistoric relics, such as stone axes, ceramic and flint tools, have been found in this area.
Iberians, Celts, Greeks, Punics and Romans were later to leave their mark on this territory also. The existence of an Iberian settlement has been proven, and it came into contact with Phoenicians and Punics as can be easily deduced from studying the El Cuero del Castillo and El Nacimiento archaeological sites, where fragments of Greek ceramics from 5th century B.C. have been found. The Cerro Pelao archaeological site is also extremely interesting, and there are historians who link it to the Torres de Aníbal (Towers of Hannibal). A small terra cotta statue of Demetra, the goddess of agriculture, a bas-relief with the image of a bull (which has been destroyed), and especially the “Dama Oferente de Abdalajís” (Offering Lady of Abdalajís, 3rd or 2nd century B.C.), are excellent examples of pre-Roman Iberian art that have been found in this municipality. |
Enough facts have come to light through archaeological studies to establish that on the site now occupied by the village stood the Roman city of Nescania, which was declared a Municipium Flavium in 70 A. D. in the time of Vespasian. Also some 25 epigraphs, which have been found in the dig sites, furnish information about the social life of Nescania in those times. One of these epigraphs is dedicated to Jupiter and may help to prove that there was a temple dedicated to this god. The Peana - which we will get back to later - is dedicated to Trajan, and another of the epigraphs refers to Seneca.
Some sources speak of at least 15 statues being found in Nescania, among the most important of which are those of Seneca and Trajan and a Bacchus that is in the Museo Arqueológico Provincial (Provincial Archaeological Museum) in Málaga.
The Vandal invasion in the fourth century levelled the Roman city and the area was unpopulated until the arrival of the Arabs, to whom the village owes its present name. It comes from Abd-el-Aziz, the son of Muza, the first Muslim to take up residence in this area. It is curious that during the entire long presence of the Arabs in this area (699 years) there was no urban area of significant size.
The Muslim population was scattered about in farmsteads and irrigated areas and the only important construction in those times was the Hinz-Almara castle, which was built over the ruins of an Iberian town and formed part of the Antequera chain of defences. Only a few stones remain of this fortress today.
The origins of the present village date back to the sixteenth century when, as a result of the first land distribution immediately after the Christian conquest and the expulsion of the Moors, the lands of Valle de Abdalajís were ceded to Alfonso Pérez de Padilla y Corbos. His descendents governed the village until 1811 (when the Cortes de Cádiz outlawed the feudal system). The feudal policies would not be totally abolished until 1833, however, the date that the last Count of Los Corbos became just another citizen, but one with huge amounts of land.
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ARDALES
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Size - 110 square kilkometres. Population - approx 2,700
Tourist Information: Town Hall, Plaza de la Constitución, 1 (29550). Telephone : 952 458 087 |
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The municipality of Ardales is situated between three regions of Málaga (Antequera, to which it administratively belongs, Ronda and the Guadalhorce valley). It is a transitional zone and therefore its scenery and history are enriched by some of the characteristics that predominate in those three territories, which in many ways are so different from one another. The visitor who enters this region is presented with a wealth of tourism opportunities, since, except for beaches, one has practically all other tourism resources within a stone's throw.
Perhaps the most arresting thing about this region is its scenic setting, made up of the reservoirs of the River Guadalhorce, to all intents and purposes, lakes, and the spectacular Desfiladero de los Gaitanes (Los Gaitanes gorge) with its “almost movie like” Caminito del Rey (King's Little Road), an incredible early twentieth century work that travelled forward in time to the vivid imagination of Spielberg when he designed his awe-inspiring Indiana Jones scenes.
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The beauty of these landscapes also includes the peculiar “tafonis”-caves in small sandstone promontories that can be seen between the gorge and reservoirs- and if to this is added, a more than respectable architectural heritage including a Roman bridge, medieval castles and Christian churches and some perfectly documented archaeological sites of the utmost importance, it cannot be denied that the municipality of Ardales has some attractions that place it in an enviable position within and beyond the province of Málaga.
The first human settlement in Ardales occurred during prehistoric times, as was the case in so many villages of Málaga, but in this region there is firm proof of it: the cave paintings discovered in the Cueva de Doña Trinidad Grund (Doña Trinidad Grund Cave) five kilometres from the urban district. Cave paintings more than 20,000 years old are preserved here. |
The Roman historian Pliny states in his chronicles that Bastulos and Celt Iberians settled next to the Turón castle in a nucleus of population called, according to Pliny, Turobriga. The Romans, for their part, built the La Peña castle, around which, the beginnings of an urban area took shape. It was only with the Arabic conquest, however, that Ardales truly took on an identity as a village, an event that occurred in the year 716. As of that date it was called Ard-Allah, which means land or garden of God.
The locality acquired great importance in the ninth century when Omar Ben Hafsun established himself in Bobastro, some 4 kilometres from the modern location of Ardales, and founded his own rebel kingdom in order to de-stabilize the Caliphate of Córdoba. During that epoch the castles of Ardales, Turón, Teba and Alora constituted the best defence of Bobastro and its surroundings, and its inhabitants embraced the cause of Omar Ben Hafsun.
After continuous battles between Muslims and Christians for control of Ardales the village passed into the hands of the latter in 1389 during the reign of Juan I under the terms of the Ardales Pact, which was signed by both sides in the conflict.
