Partial view of
Álora |
Álora sits right in the heart of the Guadalhorce
Valley, its urban centre and
old Moorish castle perched on top of a hill making for one of the most
spectacular entrances to
any town in Andalucía. The area itself is sometimes
known as the Valle del Sol, due to the sunny weather it enjoys for
most of the year. The
best-known nature parks in the area are El Chorro and the
Desfiladero de los Gaitanes (the Gorge of the Bagpipers). The famous
Caminito del Rey, a
narrow and dangerous pathway that was built across the massive
rock formation here. The
historians tell us that the name is Latin in origin, and there is a
stone in the parish
church with the inscription "municipium iluritanun",
dated 79 B.C. We can
thus deduce that this is the municipality of lluro, from
where the present name most certainly derives. The
name of the main street is so good they named it twice: Cervantes y
Veracruz, and a stroll
through the streets of Alora could well start in this main
street. After crossing a small park the visitor then comes to the town
centre, the Plaza Fuente
Arriba (fountain at the top) a square which owes its
name to its situation at the top end of the town, where the Town Hall is
also to be found. The
old part of town starts here, and a tour could continue
along Calle de Parra which is lined with the older, but well kept
houses of Alora. A
little further up is the monument to the "faenera", a
name given to the women
who used to pack the crops of lemons, oranges, plums and
almonds, and the oil. From here, a slope leads down to the Encarnación
church, the third
biggest in the province. Alora
has been populated since pre-historic times, to judge by the cave
paintings found in the
Cueva de Doña Trinidad in the Hoyo del Conde area about
a kilometre outside the town. Later
on, the phoenicians built the castle, which was fortified by the
Romans. The town came
under the domination of the Crown of Castille in 1484, when
it was conquered by Ferdinand and Isabella, and a rebellion during the
reign of Felipe II, on
the part of the Moriscos, ended with the sale as prisoners
of many of the rebels. The money raised by these means went to
build the foundations of
the Veracruz church. In
the 17th century, Alora gained its independence as a municipality from
the city of Malaga.
Places
to be visited
 |
Castle-Cemetery
All that remains for us to see of this complex is the
castle-cemetery. The main
chapel has a Gothic vault, known as The Towers in days gone by.
The rest of the building has
long since fallen down and became a cemetery for the
people of the town.
Church of the Incarnation
This is the third largest church in the province. Its interior is
divided into three naves
separated by thick stone columns with wooden arches on top.
The style is 17th century mannerist.
Flores Convent
The Convento de Flores is a religious building dating from the
16th century, with a single
nave structured in timber. The chapel is Baroque in style.
Hermitage of Santa Brígida
Situated beside the railway station, this building dates from the
16th century, when the fresco
inside was done.
Chapel of La Veracruz
The Capilla del Cristo de la Veracruz is a small 16th century
construction, irregular in
floor plan and with notable restructuring carried out over the
centuries, leaving us without any real
idea of what the original was actually
like.
The Humilladero Cross
This is, in fact, not a cross but a building, situated near the
Flores Convent, that
commemorates the symbolic handing over of the keys of Álora by
the last Moorish mayor to the
Christian commander in 1484.
|
| Where
to eat |
Consult
the comprehensive list of places to eat and drink in Álora. |
| Where
to sleep |
Hostal
Durán. This historic building is situated in one
of the most central streets in
the town. Category: 2 stars.
Management: C/ La Parra, nº 9 . Tel: 952 496 642. Number of
beds: 24 --- 4 singles // 10 doubles. Services: Central heating in
every room, television rooms
with fireplaces, cafeteria, bar, restaurant and garage.
Pensión Aguilar. Situated on
the outskirts of the town, close to the Guardia Civil
station beside the road to El Chorro. Category: 1 star.
Management: C/ Alegría, 6
Barriada Poco agua. Tel: 952 496 009
Pensión Estación El Chorro.
Lodging beside the Estación de El Chorro, an area
of tourist interest in the Desfiladero de los Gaitanes Nature
Park. Category: 1 star.
Management: El Chorro. Tel: 952 495 004 .Number of beds: 4.
Aparthotel La Garganta. This
consists of a number of apartments within the old
Flour Factory of Harinas Santa Mariana, beside the Estación de El
Chorro. Category: 1 key and 3 keys
(recently constructed rooms) Management: El
Chorro Tel: 952 495119, 952 495298. Number of beds: 76. 1 key: 5
doubles // 10 four-bed rooms, 3
keys: 13 doubles. The apartments are situated on the banks
of the reservoir, an attractive area of tourist interest in the
Desfiladero de los Gaitanes Nature
Park.
Finca Rocabella. Although
known as an aparthotel, this is, in fact, a group of
ten rural houses in the Las Angosturas area (400 metres above sea
level ) about three kilometres
up from the Estación de El Chorro. Category: 3 keys.
Management: Las Angosturas El Chorro. Tel: 616 426 939. Number
of beds: 40 with four people to
each house.
Camping El Chorro. Camping
situated among the pines in the Desfiladero de los
Gaitanes Nature Park, beside the Estación de El Chorro. Category:
3rd. Management: El Chorro Tel:
952 112 696
La Posada del Romerón. A
hotel in a restored 17th and 18th century Andalusian
farmhouse in the countryside. It has six double rooms with bathroom,
and extra beds can be installed. There is a dining room for guests
only, garden, terraces, swimming pool,
walkways and sporting activities in the
area. Apdo. de correos, 61. Arroyo de Bugía, 75 Km 4. Álora.
Tel/fax. 952 498 916. Internet
Finca La Campana. Situated in
the El Chorro Gorge area. Chalets, refuges, double
rooms and/or apartments can be rented at prices that range from
nine euros per person per
night. All the beds have sheets and blankets. Tel: 626 963 942
Fax: 952 112 019. Internet
Rural
Accommodation in the province of Malaga (in
Spanish)
|
| Links |
http://club.telepolis.com/dijemapo/.
A site that shows all the most important
monuments of the municipality, along with relevant historical
commentary. |
A view of Álora
showing the architectural style of the town |
FIESTAS
The festival of the Virgin de las Flores takes place in Álora on
September
8th. The festivals in honour of San Paulino are in June, and in July we
have the Festival of Cante Flamenco (flamenco singing). The most important
festival in the town, however, is the "Despedía" (Leave-taking) of Good
Friday, in which hundreds of people congregate to see the thrones of
Christ
and the Virgen carried aloft to the Castle.
GASTRONOMY
Álora has an excellent reputation for traditional cuisine based on local
produce from the surrounding countryside. Among the most typical dishes
are
the soups, one of the favourites of the farm workers in the area that are
usually accompanied by fruits in season, such as grapes, pears and
oranges,
and cucumber, olives and raw onion. On rainy days hot food is eaten, like
fried bread crumbs or gachas (flour-based garlic mix). In summer there is
the fried peppers, the delicious varieties of gazpachos, the various fish
dishes and the asparagus omelettes. There is a wide variety of pork
products
too, used in all the different varieties. For dessert, one can have the
various home-made preserves, the doughnuts and pastries and the unique
horchata (a nut-based drink) made from hazelnut ice-cream. But for
breakfast there is nothing better than a cup of Hacho manzanilla (herb
tea)
with a squirt of lemon.
NATURAL SORROUNDINGS
The municipality of Álora covers a wide area.
To the north is the Arco Calizo Central
(The Antequerana Mountain range) offering spectacular landscape
to be enjoyed in the Sierra de Huma, at 1,191 metres high, and the Desfiladero
de los Gaitanes, (an area whose administration is shared by Ardales).
To the west is the Sierra de Aguas (949 metres high) that leads on towards
the Serranía de Ronda, with its pine forests stretching from the Guadalhorce
river to the road that links Álora with Carratraca. On
the eastern side of the Guadalhorce, the landscape flattens out somewhat,
with small hills cultivated with cereal, some
olive plantations and old oaks. This
region makes a natural corridor that crosses the province from Periana
to Álora, separated by the Antequerana Mountain range from the Mountains
of Malaga. These mountains pass by Álora to the west, leaving a landscape
of hills, olive and almond groves and scrubland. One of the most charming
features of Álora and neighbouring areas is the large quantity of small
fruit and vegetable patches, covering the land in coloured blankets of
green, with the
typical farmhouses attached.
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