Torrox Pueblo Tour

Yesterday me (Sara) and Saskia (from Cortijo Amaya) have been part of a great Torrox Pueblo tour, the beautiful white village of the Costa del Sol.

Personally i knew very little about the village and the idea to see something new, trilled me!

A spanish guide, Carmen and an english translator, Alan, guided us for 3 hours, discovering the little unknown secrets that such an antique village can hide during the centuries.
From the parking area, on the top of the white village, we started in little alleyways. I was surprise at first: just taking a different way, i found myself on a high panoramic view point, that enabled me and all the group, to admire Torrox in its entirety. From there, small downhill streets guided us through decorated and ‘flowered’ old white houses and gardens.
Most of the walls are decorated with pottery and vases full of colorful plants.

“está Torrox, en una ladera de quebrados cerros, con 400 vecinos: su principal trato es de azúcar, de que hay dos ingenios: a media legua en la marina está su castillo con artillería, que guarda la playa con muchas torres o atalayas a distancia de media legua por toda la costa del Regno de Granada. Su fundación due de los moros.”

Torrox is located 46km east from Malaga and 2 km above sea level. Torrox includes:  Torrox Pueblo, Torrox Costa, El Morche and El Peñoncillo. The village has been established by the Moors in the 10th century. There was once a castle on top of the hill and from its towers it was possible to control the coast and a big part of the Granada kingdom. During the islamic occupation, Torrox was producing a lot of sugar, silk and agriculture products. Inside the village, people were doing different kinds of work, all related to agriculture and fishing. The trade of sugar, honey, potatoes and fish were the most successful businesses.

“Los trabajos a que comúnmente se dedican los vecinos de este pueblo son el cultivo del campo y algunos al trafico de azúcar, miel u batatas, para vender en la Capital del regno y sus Ciudades inmediatas. otros son pescadores del que se saca en estas playas.”

As any normal village, we found a square, “Plaza de San Roque”, with ‘obviously’ a church: San Roque. The church has the Mudejar style of the sixteenth century, a knave and choir with semicircular dome set on arches. The facade is made of bricks and masonry and over the top, the gable ends with horseshoe arch, like the two windows of the main facade.

“En una pequeña plaza, la Plaza de San Roque, y sobre un oratorio anterior,se ubica la Ermita de San Roque, actualmente sin oferta de servicios religiosos. Esta ermita presenta un estilo neomudéjar, del siglo XVI, una sola nave y capilla mayor con una bóveda semiesférica sobre pecunias. Su fachada se ha realizado en ladrillo visto y mampostería con hastial terminado en espadaña y arco de herradura, al igual que dos de las ventanas de su fachada principal.”

The pueblo, the old town, wasn’t very big and not far from the church. High walls (no longer there) protected the city from enemy attack.  El Portón, the Gateway, was the only access to it, located where the Calle Alta and Calle Baja meet. The place is known as “Puerta del Sol”. It is a passage that leads to small and winding streets in the Arab style. During the 90’s it was covered with bricks and is a part of the “Almanzor route”.

“Situado en la confluencia de las calles Alta y Baja, es un lugar conocido como Puerta del Sol. Se trata de un pajizo que comunica, a través de él, con un entramado de callejuelas de marcado trazado árabe. En los años noventa se recubrió de ladrillo visto y conforma parte de la Ruta de Amanzor.”

We then visited the Torrox Museum, where a strange but fascinating exhibition was on. The miniature representation of  Torrox and its fiestas, realized by local artists with recycled materials and lots of imagination. In ancient times, this building was the place where the local coin (el Real) was coined.

The whole pueblo is characterized by a series of arches, that can be seen in some of the narrow streets. They were part of the old water supply system, conducting the old waterfall from “La concepcion”, better known as “The sugar factory”. They were operating from the 16th century. It is worth mentioning the small fountains in calle Santa Teresa and Calle Paz as examples for the other fountains that were installed during the 60’s in various streets of Torrox are of the same kind, alongside the fountain in the calle Almedina, which consisted of three pools, two small and a large one, also from the same era. In Torrox there were several other important fountains made of marble and of great artistic value, because of the material used as well as their beauty: unfortunately they no longer exist after a series of natural disasters like earthquakes.

“Dentro del municipio de Torrox destacan una serie de arcos en algunas de las angostas calles del municipio. Se trata de antiguos sistemas de condicción  de agua que la lavaban al salto del primitivo ingenio de la Concepción, más conocido como “ingenio alto”, en funcionamiento desde el siglo XVI. Tipica es la fuente de la calle Almedina, compuesta de tres pilares, también de la misma época”.

Not far from it, a building, different from the others because of its windows, revealed us its real identity. During the medieval period it was a prison, the place where thieves and heretics were kept and tortured. Now used as a public “library”, a place to donate or borrow books in every languages, for the benefit of local people or visitors, the inside has kept its original style and structure. Very interesting! Something to visit!

After few hours of walking, our appetite was finally satisfied! The spanish guide Carmen, brought us to “La bodega” a very old tapas bar and cultural place, to taste a bit of the traditional spanish dishes.

Pork, fish, olives, ham, bread, eggs, sangria and much more, were waiting for us! Their warm welcome was fascinating and the kindness shown by the folkloristic group. They were singing and dancing some of the most popular and traditional flamenco songs while we were enjoying the view and the company.

The food was great and the cold sangria was a pleasure to drink. The flamenco dance was extraordinary too. The man was playing with great confidence the notes of harmonic and rhythmic songs as a background of a colorful flamenco dance. The ladies were showing off their deep love for their country and their traditions: the strong and firm dance, the movement of their hands, their body twirling lightly in front of us, the costumes moving fast with the music..everything was just so spanish!

We had a great time and  we can surely say: we know much more of this little corner of paradise! Must be seen!

#Torrox Costa #Torrox Pueblo #Axarquia #scuba diving #white village #Andalucia #tour