A town square in
which the neighbours meet to chat |
The town of Arriate is situated in an enclave deep
in the Ronda Mountains, surrounded
by a natural landscape that is beautiful all the year round, with
an average annual
temperature of 15 degrees and 2,700 hours of sunshine. We
can see that the area was settled a very long time ago, from the
existence of caves
excavated out of the rocks near the river Guadalcobacín. With
a kind climate and ample water supplies, the area was evidently ideal
for hunting and fishing,
and the very features of the landscape that encouraged
people to settle in the area thousands of years ago are still attracting
visitors to this spot. The
origin of the name of the town is Arabic, deriving from Arriadh, which
means gardens or orchards.
But it does not appear officially as an independent
villa - a status it still keeps - until August 8th, 1630, to be
incorporated in 1635 once
more as part of the administrative area of Ronda. On
February 14th, 1661, the town finally achieved its total independence as
a municipality.
The most important
historical event in the story of Arriate was the Battle of
Arriate in 1407, in which the governor of Cañete la Real defeated the
Moors. The population of
the town reached it highest point ever in the year 1959.
The urban centre is
situated on a flat area of the municipality, easily seen from
the Ronda to Setenil road that crosses the town by a bridge over the
Ventilla stream. The
houses are typical of mountain pueblo houses all over the
Ronda Mountains: low, with back patios, and dominated by the high tower
of the town¹s church.
Places
to be visited
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Church
of San Juan de Letrán
The Church of San Juan de Letrán is situated on calle Cordones,
in an area that has been the
centre of the town since 1630, the year that Arriate became
independent of Ronda. The exceptional carpentry work on the
Mudejar structure inside was
carried out by Francisco Hernández and Andrés Valverde in
1629. The present bell-tower is a typical example of religious
architecture of the early 1960s,
although it was not finished for many years more.
In 1966, the side chapels and the interior were modified, and work
on this did not end until 1980.
One of the saddest periods of the
recent history of the town took place in 1936,
when, following a meeting led by a socialist deputy in the main
square, the crowd entered the church
and destroyed the main altar, the organ and
the images of Nuestra Señora del Rosario, of the Virgen de los
Dolores, San Valentín and the
Santo Cristo. All of these items were over 200 years old.
On July 18th of the same year the church was again attacked,
having remained closed since
April of that year. Once again, church furniture and various
religious items were destroyed, the only piece saved being the
head of the sculpture of
Nuestro Padre Jesús Nazareno, which was separated from the
rest of the body and hidden in a local house until restored to its
proper position after the war.
Natural surroundings
Arriate looks out over the Mountains of Ronda from the upper
reaches of the Guadalcobacín,
a tributary of the Guadiaro. The river borders the municipal
area of the town to the north and
west, where there are areas of great natural
beauty. Alongside are many small fertile patches of cultivation,
known as huertas, in which olive and
cereal groves contrast with the raw landscape
of the mountains. Out of the municipal area but in full view of
the town are the peaks of Las Cumbres,
at 911 metres high, Salinas, at 954 metres
high and covered in oak forest, and the Dehesa de Parchite.
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| Where
to eat and sleep |
Venta La Casa
del Lomo, specialising in loin steaks. Venta
"El Chozo", specialising
in home cooking and also an inn. Bar
Villanueva, specialising in
fried fish. Bar Piti,
specialising in varied tapas. Bar Las
Bigas, specialising
in home-made tapas. Bodega Caballero,
specialising in wines and Iberian
ham products. Cafetería-Churrería
Garrido, specialising in breakfasts
and afternoon snacks. Bar Andalucía,
specialising in tapas, meals and
afternoon snacks. Bar Palma,
specialising in varied tapas. Bar Manolo,
specialising in fried fish. Bar
La Laguna, specialising in varied tapas. Bar
Paquito,
specialising in hams. Bar Malpartida,
specialising in home-made tapas.
Bar Escobar, specialising in
varied tapas. Bar Picasso,
specialising in varied tapas. Bar
Albarrá, specialising in breakfasts. Venta
Pelistre, specialising
in rabbit in garlic.
Rural
Accommodation in the province of Malaga
(in
Spanish)
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Facade of the
Hermandad del Santísimo Cristo de la Sangre |
FIESTAS
The festive calender in
Arriate begins on January 5th with the Cabalgata de los
Reyes Magos, the Procession of the Three Kings, and the annual carnival
takes place a month later. As
is the case of the neighbouring town, Cuevas del
Becerro, in Arriate too there is a great tradition of the so-called Día
de la Vieja, the Day of the
Old One. The reference is to the Lenten period, the
forty days of fasting in the church calender, and the Vieja, in this
context, means Lent. On that
day the people of the town take themselves to the
countryside and there spend the day eating and drinking. On the first
Sunday of May, the Romería de
la Cruz takes place: here, many people dress up
in the typical rociero (literally: of the dew, but the reference here is
to the huge religious festival
in Huelva called La Rocío) style. Mass is said
at the Hermitage of Los Frontones and after this everybody goes to the
place known as Los Pinitos del
Marqués, where they continue the celebrations.
Among the best-known of the hermandades (brotherhoods) of Arriate
is the Aurora. The members of this brotherhood maintain the ancient
custom of taking to the streets of the town in the early hours of Sunday
mornings and singing songs, a tradition that probably originates from
the Mozarab kharjas. One of
the most important days for festivals in the Arriate
calender is Corpus, on June 29th, the result of a Papal Bull from Clemente
XIV, dating from 1769. The Holy Sacrament is carried through the streets
on the Day of San Pedro, in substitution for the traditional festival
of Hábeas, given that on this date many people from Arriate are absent
as a result of their work in the fields of Seville and Jeréz at that
time.
GASTRONOY
The cuisine of the town is quite similar to
that of other small towns in the Ronda
Mountains. This means gazpacho and soup with hard-boiled eggs in summertime,
with rabbit in garlic and bread-crumbs. A speciality of the place
is the variation of stew known as cocido arriateño. As is traditional
in the area, there is a great variety of pork
products made here. Dessert is
usually the
home-made bread and lemon rolls.
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