The extensive territory of the municipality of Málaga, the province's third in area, after Antequera and Ronda, contains at least two very different kinds of landscape. In the north are the Málaga Mountains, a heavily wooded and, as its name indicates, mountainous area that is of great ecological and scenic value and has been designated a Nature Park by the Assembly of Andalusia. In this same territory, but towards the east, the terrain clearly has an affinity with that of La Axarquía, and here are found the highest elevations, such as the Santo Pitar peak (1,020 metres).

The country levels out to the west and forms what is known as the Hoya de Málaga (Málaga Valley), which is nothing more than the depression where the valleys of the Rivers Guadalmedina and Guadalhorce join, before emptying into the Mediterranean. In this area the seaward-facing part of the city, which tends to widen to the west, blends with the sugarcane fields, orchards and market gardens that form the last holdouts of an agrarian tradition that is being steadily absorbed by industrial parks and the constantly expanding airport.

The urban layout of the city stretches from east to west for some 12 kilometres, and in the approximate centre, the huge semicircle opens up that contains the historic district. Practically all the monuments and tourist sites are concentrated here except for the so-called historic gardens, which are in the outskirts of the city.

Faced with the Assyrian expansion and the progressive desertification of their territories, the Phoenicians from Tyre arrived on the Andalusian coasts around 800 B.C. and during that era founded Malaka. At first, it was less a city than a trading base around the port. Some time later the Greeks would found neighbouring Mainake, which would be destroyed by the Carthaginians, who in turn suffered from the power of Rome and were overcome by it in the late third century B. C. in the Second Punic War.

Export activity increased under Roman rule, based mainly on garum (fish sauce or paste), wine and olive oil. In the year 81 A. D., the city was already a federated municipality and several important buildings had been constructed, of which the theatre on the slopes of La Alcazaba has been preserved. As Roman leadership waned, the city passed into the hands of the Silingos, Vandals and Visigoths, and after the Islamic invasion it would belong to the Emirate and subsequent Caliphate of Córdoba.

In later ages, the city would fall under the control of the Hammudi Berbers, the Ziríes of Granada, the Almoravids, the Almohads and the Nazarites. Despite these constant changes, the city retained its commercial activity, owing in large part to the protection provided by its strong walls and to the lookout that could be maintained from the Gibralfaro castle.

Christian troops laid siege to the city of Málaga for a century, and it finally surrendered unconditionally in 1487. This unconditional surrender involved slavery or exile for a large number of its residents. With its conversion to Christianity, the city began to transform. It extended its limits to outside the walls and the Church quickly began to build churches and convents. To the Moorish disturbances of the sixteenth century, which ended with their expulsion in 1614 and the consequent shortages, must be added the flooding of the River Guadalmedina and the epidemics that spread through the city in the seventeenth century, as well as the pirate and Berber incursions and the attacks of the French and British fleets. The population, then, arrived at the end of the seventeenth century in a state of exhaustion.

During the next century, Málaga entered an era of greater stability in every sense of the word and, most importantly, the economy began to strengthen, due mainly to agricultural exports. The end of the monopoly on trading with the Indies was a direct factor in the surge in shipping activity.

In the nineteenth century the city not only suffered from the Napoleonic invasion but also from the conflicts between Liberals and Absolutists that caused General Torrijos and his companions to die before the firing squad on the beaches of San Andrés in 1831 during the reign of Fernando VII. Towards the middle of this century, Málaga experienced a period of industrialisation based on the textile and steel industries that placed it in second place in Spain in that category.

The Larios and Heredia families were the promoters of this intensive economic activity, and the city showed their appreciation to them by erecting statues and naming some of its main streets after them. It was in the nineteenth century that Málaga took on its urban layout: the working class neighbourhoods and factories were located in the western part and in the eastern part were the large mansions of the new middle class, while in the centre some of the streets were widened and architecturally striking buildings were erected.

A new economic crisis was approaching, however. The flourishing industry began to falter and the phylloxera pest destroyed wine production, which had traditionally been one of the pillars of the province's wealth. There were ups and downs, but the economy of Málaga did not take off until the 1960's when mass tourism found in the Costa del Sol a destination that would ultimately become a global standard.

How to Get There

From any point on either the eastern or western Costa del Sol take the A-7 (N-340) expressway, where Málaga exits are perfectly marked. If coming from the interior of Andalusia, first follow the signs to Antequera, and there get onto the A-45 (N-331) expressway, which leads to Málaga.

This municipality contains five urban centres between the River Manilva and the border of the province of Cádiz that originated in different eras and among which the population is distributed: the actual village of Manilva, Sabinillas, El Castillo, Hondacavada and El Puerto de la Duquesa, as well as various housing developments that are in a state of constant and orderly growth.

The landscape, far now from the rugged interior of the province, displays the topographic features of the nearby Campo de Gibraltar (Gibraltar area) being a succession of low hills creased by short streams that empty directly into the sea (Alcorrín, Martagina, Indiano, Estanquillo, etc). On one of these hills, specifically that of Los Mártires, sits the village at less than three kilometres from the coast.

It is known that these lands were covered with vineyards at least since the sixteenth century and they continue to be, but they do not constitute the only crop as there are also areas devoted to grain, vegetables, fruit trees and pastures. The last two are more abundant the closer one gets to the River Guadiaro on the border of the province of Cádiz.

Manilva's location, very close to the Straits of Gibraltar, has meant that practically every culture that has passed through the Iberian Peninsular has also passed through this territory. There is no doubt that since the Neolithic period there has been uninterrupted human settlement of one sort or another right up to the present time. There are late Neolithic remains in some caves in the Utrera mountain range, and at the Cerro del Castillo archaeological site Bronze Age remains have been found.

But here again it was the Romans who left the most tangible traces of their culture, such as the Roman villa of Sabinillas, the ruins of what apparently was a tower on the El Hacho hill, and some ceramics at Haza del Casareño. The sites from the Muslim domination are found in the interior, rather far from the coast.

Beginning with the sixteenth century the history of Manilva parallels that of Casares, the county to which it belonged at that time. The lack of security in this area of the Mediterranean during that century was a danger to many communities, causing Málaga, Gibraltar and Ronda to ask Carlos V to urge the Duke of Arcos to provide more protection and to set up a town on the coast.

In 1528 Carlos V ordered the construction of a tower at El Salto de la Mora, and shortly afterwards half a hundred residents of Casares set up residence on the Los Mártires hill. These would be the first settlers of the original Manilva, which would continue to be subordinate to Casares until 1796, the year it achieved its independence.

How to Get There

From any point on the Costa del Sol, take the Mediterranean expressway towards Cádiz. Beginning at Estepona there are two options: either continue on the aforementioned AP-7 expressway, or else get onto the old coastal highway N-340. In either case, the signs for Manilva will leave no doubt, but you must take the A-377. The village is very close to the coast and halfway between the two aforementioned routes.

The unmistakable silhouette of the Sierra Blanca range is visible from any point in the municipality and is the geographic feature that best defines this territory. The municipality is especially mountainous in the northern part, where some peaks exceed 1,000 metres, and is furrowed by countless streambeds that still provide something of a natural setting for the luxurious and aggressive urban development this place has experienced for the last few decades.

In spite of the fact that huge building developments have even penetrated spaces far from the coastal strip and despite the dubious suitability of certain brick masses to the surrounding landscape there are still in the environs of Marbella sizable stands of old-growth cork oaks, large pine woods and some olive groves. Along with newly built private gardens and the tended turf of the golf courses (there are 14 in this municipality) they make greenery a true basic resource for attracting the very affluent tourists who frequent this locality.

What is now the second largest city in the province of Málaga hosted its first few settlers in the Paleolithic period, as is shown by the tools and weapons found at the place called Coto Correa, in the area of Las Chapas, and in the Pecho Redondo cave (from the Neolithic period), in the southern foothills of the Sierra Blanca range. There is no trace of any other civilisation until late in the Carthaginian domination, of which there are the remains of what may have been a trading post at Río Verde, some five kilometres from Marbella.

Rome left notable evidence of its passage through these lands, such as the Río Verde villa, the Guadalmina bathhouses and various materials found in the historic district of the city. Some students of the subject do not discard the possibility that the nucleus of present-day Marbella was founded by the Romans, and some even point out that it may be the famous Iberian Salduba spoken of by Pliny and Ptolemy. In any event the perimeter of the city, which was no doubt fortified, must have coincided with the present historic centre.

While the ruins of towers and walls of the castle that are still standing are from the Muslim era, the lowest part of the construction is Roman, as are also the foundations of several buildings on the Los Naranjos square in the central district This all indicates that the locality must have had a certain importance during the Roman occupation. The Paleochristian basilica of Vega del Mar, adjoining San Pedro de Alcántara, is from the Visigoth era and is one of the most remarkable structures built in Spain during that period.

Beginning with the Muslim invasion, this locality was ruled by various dynasties until the Benimerins came to power in 1274. Later, as with the rest of the region, it was to belong to the Kingdom of Granada until it was conquered by the Catholic Monarchs in 1485. In the sixteenth century the city underwent a remarkable change in its urban layout, beginning with the levelling of part of the “Medina”, or historic city centre, to make space for a central plaza, today's Plaza de los Naranjos, and a street to link this new urban space with the sea. The city's name of Barbesula during the Roman era became Barbella under the Arabs, from which the Christians coined the name Marbella.

In view of the present appearance of the city it is hard to imagine that in the nineteenth century Marbella was one the most heavily developed mining regions in Spain, with blast furnaces for exploiting the iron from the mines in the Sierra Blanca range. Within a century the city went from being the standard of reference for industry to being one of the highest-level tourism destinations in the world.

How to Get There

Take the AP-7 toll road or the N-340. By either route the signs won't let you go wrong.

The municipality of Mijas takes in all that country between the mountain range that gives it its name and the sea. The terrain thus ascends in a short distance and at times rather abruptly from sea level on the coast to the highest peak in the territory (1,130 metres). The ravines, peaks and more or less gentle hills still have part of their indigenous vegetation despite the area's spectacular urban development making it ever more difficult to maintain grazing lands and olive groves, which yield little income in this day and age.

Nevertheless, the rugged nature of the landscape and a certain respect for the surroundings have kept golf courses, brick and cement from hiding the natural beauty of this municipality, where the mountains and the village itself continue to be the main points of reference. The coastal zone, on the other hand, is practically urbanised from the boundary of Fuengirola to that of Marbella with the exception of a few rocky areas that remain intact.

This municipality, like others in the province of Málaga, has three centres of population. In this case they are Mijas Pueblo, Las Lagunas and Cala de Mijas. The first of these is a classic whitewashed Andalusian village of Moorish origin that contains the monuments and the administrative centre. Most of the municipal services and part of the building developments are in Las Lagunas while Cala de Mijas, squarely within the coastal zone, is completely given over to residential and beach tourism.

There are facts that confirm that Mijas used to belong to Turdetania while other traces attest to the presence of Greeks and Phoenicians, who set about exploiting the area's mineral wealth. The first historic reference to the village, however, is by the geographer Ptolemy of the School of Alexandria, who must have been in these lands in the second century A. D. or gathered information from someone who knew them very well, judging by how exactly he describes some places.

The locality was called Tames during the Roman era, and there is every indication that it generated remarkable economic activity due to its proximity to the Apian Way that linked the cities of Cádiz and Málaga. The Arabs named it Mixa, from which the Christians derived the modern name of Mijas.

The Muslims took over the village very soon after landing on the Iberian Peninsular. They were already governing it in 714 and doing so quite profitably, since they permitted the inhabitants to continue to possess their property and practice their religion and customs in exchange for a certain percentage of the agricultural and livestock production.

The Muslims' good relations with the Mozarabs were obvious in the time of the strongman Omar Ben Hafsún, with whom they maintained cordial and beneficial relations since they needed one another mutually. With the death of Omar Ben Hafsún, Abderramán III re-conquered the area.

Mijas resisted the attacks of the Christian army until the conquest of Málaga in 1487. When they learned of that city's surrender the residents of Mijas decided that an unconditional surrender would be the best option. The emissaries that were sent to Málaga to carry out the surrender were taken prisoner and some were sold as slaves. In 1494 the municipality's land was divided among Old Christians. The locality was granted the status of “villa” (royal burgh) in 1521 as a reward for their loyalty to Carlos I during the Comuneros rebellion and Juana la Loca also declared it to be exempt from payment of sales taxes (“alcabalas”).

Mijas was the scene centuries later of an important historical event that took place on 2 December 1831. General Torrijos landed on the beach of El Charcón with 52 companions. They went across the municipal territory towards the mountains, from which they came down to Alhaurín de la Torre to seek shelter in a mansion that belonged to the Count of Mollina. Days later, on 11 December, the general and his men were executed by firing squad on the beaches of San Andrés in the city of Málaga for having stood up the absolutism of Fernando VII.

How to Get There

You must take the Mediterranean Expressway (AP-7; N-340) from the Costa del Sol. If you leave Málaga going towards Cádiz once you are past Benalmádena you must take the A-368 (the signs are very clear) to Mijas. If you leave from Fuengirola in the direction of Málaga you must likewise take the Mediterranean Expressway and the A-387 to Mijas.

When a poet of the stature of Rainer Maria Rilke, with such a precise command of words, defined Ronda as the “dreamed-of city”, he had his reasons. Surely, after visiting it the traveller will confirm the poet's judgment, and agree even more the farther he gets from Ronda and remembers it as a dream instead of a place that he has actually touched.

A visitor on his first trip to this city will approach it with mental postcard images of a few of its monuments, its scenery or some of the many characteristic secluded corners that it has to offer, but none of this will serve as a reference or even be easily recognisable because the reality that he will find is very different. Ronda belongs to that select group of towns that can only be compared to themselves, with no possibility of imitation or resemblance to others. This is something that the traveller can prove to himself the moment he enters the historic quarter and sees the dazzling landscape and architecture appear before him, impregnated with history and legend that blur the line between reality and fantasy but that resoundingly affirms the unique character of Ronda.

The town is located on a plateau some 750 metres above sea level and seems to be divided into two areas by the famous Tajo de Ronda (Ronda Cliff), a gorge 100 metres deep and about 500 metres long with the River Guadalevín running along its floor. The western part of this plateau forms an area of cliffs similar to the one that forms the Tajo itself. Beginning here, an extensive rural landscape opens up that stretches to the mountains that make up the highlands that give the region its name.

The paintings in the La Pileta cave in Benaoján bear witness that the environs of Ronda were inhabited at least since the Paleolithic Period, and remains found in some excavations in the city of Ronda show that there were human settlements in the Neolithic Period. It was the historian Pliny, however, who placed Ronda within the time frame of history when in his writings he refers to the La Arunda of the sixth century B. C. that was inhabited by Bastulo Celts, while identifying the Iberians as being the founders of nearby Acinipo.

The Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians and Romans were later to successively establish themselves, for varying periods, in this area. The Romans named it Laurus and erected the Castillo del Laurel (Laurel Castle, no longer in existence), from which they kept watch over the warlike Celtiberian tribes. Acinipo rather than Ronda was more important in that era, however, as is shown by the fact that it came to mint its own coins.

After the disintegration of the Roman Empire Ronda and Acinipo witnessed the Germanic invasions, and the latter city was even occupied by the Byzantines, who permanently abandoned it in the seventh century when the Visigoths entered Ronda. The city began to acquire a certain political and economic importance with the arrival of the Arabs, who would rename it Izna Rand Onda.

In the late ninth and early tenth centuries, the entire Highlands and especially its capital intensely experienced the insurgency directed from Bobastro (Ardales) by Omar Ben Hafsun against the Caliphate of Córdoba. Later, around the first half of the eleventh century after the fall of the Caliphate of Córdoba, the Berbers made Ronda a Taifas Kingdom, under which the city would experience great urban growth.

The city lost its independence in 1066 when it came under the Kingdom of Seville. Beginning with that date and for almost 400 years Ronda would be dominated by different North African tribes and finally by the Nazarites of Granada. In such a long history, Ronda would know periods of growth and prosperity, stagnation and even regression. Christian troops entered the city in 1485.

Peaceful coexistence between Muslims and Christians did not last very long. The Moorish rebellion broke out and was particularly violent in the Highlands until the expulsion of all Muslims in 1609. As was the case with any town in Málaga, an era of decadence befell Ronda that would last until approximately the eighteenth century, when the city extended into the Mercadillo neighbourhood with construction of the Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) and the famous Plaza de Toros (Bullring).

French troops under the direct command of Joseph Bonaparte entered Ronda in 1810, an act that set off an unusual guerrilla movement throughout the Highlands. This movement remained alive even after the Napoleonic army abandoned the city in 1812 although it derived from bandit gangs, the most famous of all those in Spain in the nineteenth century and which have given rise to so many legends and stories.

With the opening of the railroad in 1891 and the construction of several roads, Ronda entered the twentieth century with a remarkable level of socio-economic development. In 1918 this town was selected for the Andalusian Congress at the urging of Blas Infante of Málaga, who is considered the father of the “Patria Andaluza” (Andalusian fatherland movement).

How to Get There

There are three routes to Ronda from the Costa del Sol. One leaves the city of Málaga by the A-357 highway in the direction of Campillos. About six kilometres past Ardales, turn onto the A-367, which passes through Cuevas del Becerro and leads straight to Ronda.

Another route leaves from San Pedro de Alcántara. The A-376 turns off the AP-7 motorway or the coastal highway N-340 and can be followed to Ronda without any changes. This is the route that is most used by people coming from the Western Costa del Sol. It is a very well-maintained road, but not without curves, and offers splendid scenery.

Finally, at Manilva you can also get off the AP-7 (N-340) onto the A-377 and go to Gaucín. There take the A-369, which connects with the A-376 just three kilometres short of Ronda.

Among the foothills of the Mijas mountain range, in an area of gentle terrain that decreases in altitude as it approaches the seacoast, lies the territory of Torremolinos, formerly a district of Málaga and a separate municipality since 1988. The great green spaces at the foot of the mountains join the complex and heterogeneous urban district on the opposite side of the Mediterranean Expressway that bestows a distinctive profile upon the locality. (There are four well-differentiated population centres: El Calvario, El Bajondillo, La Carihuela and the network of streets that make up the most traditional district of the city).

The first human settlements in this municipality date back no less than 150,000 years. That is the period from which date the nine human skulls found in the caves of El Tesoro, Los Tejones, El Encanto and Tapada. These caves no longer exist but used to be at Punta de Torremolinos, the present Castillo de Santa Clara, where clay vessels, axe heads, necklaces, bracelets and rings were also found. Neolithic remains (5,000 B. C.) have also been found of what according to the historian Juan Temboury was a Mesopotamian people who settled in this place, where they would have found an excellent climate, natural shelters and abundant water, game and fish.

During the Roman domination, Torremolinos was perfectly linked with Málaga and Cádiz by the road that was built to connect those two cities. Due to these good communications, three dried fish trading posts were set up in the municipality, mainly to produce the famous garum sauce, a fish product that was indispensable to Roman cuisine. All that remains of them, however, is a few signs of one of them on the grounds of the old Campamento Benítez. A small necropolis that came to light during some work on the Plaza Cantabria is also from the Roman era.

The Arabs, with their undying reverence for water, did not hesitate to avail themselves of the stream that had its headwaters in the area of Los Manantiales and ran to the beach. They built numerous mills all along this stream. In about 1300, at the height of the Nazarite epoch, construction was begun on a defensive tower at the end of present-day Calle San Miguel to prevent, so far as was possible, invasions from the sea. The name of the city (“Tower-Mills”) alludes to the tower and the mills.

Shortly after the fall of Málaga, the Catholic Monarchs granted that capital ownership of the springs in Torremolinos. This decision was reaffirmed years later, in 1511, by Juana la Loca. Thus, quite a few years later, the mills that had been built by the Arabs gradually became inoperative for lack of a water current.

It is an interesting footnote that the first resident of Torremolinos whose name appears in any official document was Alonso Martín, who was contracted as a tower guard with the mission of giving warning of invasions from the sea. One such invasion occurred in 1503, as is shown by a document in the Archives of the Málaga Cathedral. The resident in question was paid 25 maravedís per day, but since his job consisted of watching over the coast he was not permitted to have a fishing pole or play games. For failure to comply with that rule he could be punished by two months without pay or even expelled from the service.

Pirate vessels did not relent in their harassment of the Málaga coastline, and in order to defend the Torremolinos coast Antonio Jiménez Mesa, the Royal Army engineer, proposed that a castle or artillery battery be built. This work began in 1770 on the site now occupied by the Hotel Santa Clara. The fortress housed infantry and cavalry garrisons, dwellings, a chapel and warehouses, and was equipped with a battery of six 24-pound cannon with a range of about six kilometres. The facility was a military base until 1830 when it was adapted as a constabulary barracks, and years later it passed into private hands. There are still some ruins of this fort in the area known as La Batería.

In 1923 two projects were begun to divert Torremolinos' water to Málaga due to the capital's growing population and its scant water resources during that era. This initiative ultimately caused the municipality of Torremolinos to become a neighbourhood of Málaga.

Sir George Langworthy, an unusual British citizen who took up residence in Torremolinos in the late nineteenth century, bought the Santa Clara castle and in 1930 converted it into a residential hotel, thus founding the first tourist establishment not only in Torremolinos but practically on the entire Costa del Sol. Shortly afterwards, Carlota Alessandri converted her Cucazorra rural estate into the Parador de Montemar; in the next decade the Hotel La Roca opened its doors and in the late 1940's the El Remo restaurant and cabaret in La Carihuela began operations. The rest is recent history.

Beginning in the 1950's with the opening of the Los Nidos and Pez Espada hotels (the latter being the first luxury establishment in the area), the name of Torremolinos became inescapably associated with tourism. 50 years later that tranquil village, which sprang up around a watchtower and some mills exploiting the abundant spring water is known throughout the world and finds itself at the forefront of the international tourism industry.

How to Get There

Whether you are coming direct from the airport or from any other point on the Costa del Sol, the signs for Torremolinos will not let you go wrong. The Mediterranean Expressway and the old N-340, which has now become a boulevard passing through the middle of the city, are this tourist centre's access routes.

The municipality of Yunquera receives the full benefit of the extraordinary scenery and ecology of the Sierra de las Nieves mountain range. It not only makes up a part of what is, strictly speaking, the Sierra de la Nieves Nature Park but also of its surroundings, which have been declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. Due to the strict rules that govern any activity performed in this territory after this international designation, a traveller here enters one of the most scenic and well-protected areas in the province of Málaga.

Even outside the boundaries of the Nature Park the lands of Yunquera offer the traveller a number of places where the combination of hills and valleys, and the inescapable presence of the Spanish fir as the main species of tree, create astonishingly beautiful sites such as can be seen in the vicinity of the Nuestra Señora de las Nieves convent ruins on the border of the municipality of El Burgo. Simply listing all the “unique places” to be found within the boundaries of this municipality would be just as tedious as speaking insistently of the powerful attraction wielded by a territory that has received almost all the blessings of nature. The visitor will realise all this for himself when he begins to get close to Yunquera.

The place occupied by the village is one of the passes that allow the eastern mountains of the Ronda highlands to be crossed with relative ease. Taking into account also the abundant water that flows from springs in the mountains, it is reasonable to presume that the area was inhabited since the Prehistoric period. It would not be until the arrival of the Romans, however, that there was a stable settlement, and even then, it was composed of widely scattered farmhouses and leisure villas.

Every indication is that Yunquera never achieved a status worthy of being called a Roman city, but rather was a community that was cut off from the commercial and political life of that era. There is no Roman highway, an indispensable feature for holding the Empire together, that passes through the area, nor are there archaeological sites showing the existence of any kind of noteworthy construction other than the two remaining bridges on the road to Ronda. It is known, however, that the Romans called the place Juncaria, which means something like, “meadow of rushes”.

The Arabs, with their proverbial reverence for water, learned how to derive maximum benefit from the abundant flow from the mountain springs. For this purpose, they designed a series of gardens that were easily irrigated by an ingenious conduction system. There has been no basic change in this agricultural tradition, which can now be seen in areas devoted to cultivation in the valleys of the Rivers Grande and Jorox. The tablelands, meanwhile, are dominated by olive groves.

Although there are traces of an earlier Arabic settlement, modern Yunquera was formed after the Christian conquest in 1485, more precisely when these lands were repopulated by people who had come from Estepa.

How to Get There

The most advisable route to Yunquera starts at the city of Málaga. Take the A-357 highway towards Campillos. After about 14 kilometres, you will get to Cártama, and immediately after that village, you must take the A-355 to Coín. From that locality, you must continue by way of the A-366 to Alozaina. (This is the same road as the A-355 but this stretch has a different name.) At Alozaina, continue on the same road to Yunquera.

If you start from Ronda, you should likewise take the A-366, but towards Málaga. You will come to El Burgo after about 25 kilometres and to Yunquera 9 kilometres farther along.