View of the town |
Iznate is a small
municipality of barely eight square kilometes in surface area in the
interior of the eastern Malaga coast. The easiest way to get there is by the
main coastal road, turning off at Benajarafe by the route that begins in
Valle-Niza, close to the Marqués Castle towards Cajiz. One could also take
the road from Vélez-Málaga, passing through Benamocarra. The urban centre,
at 310 metres above sea level, sits on the sides of the Cerro Iznate. The
municipality is watered by the river Iznate, and the highest point in the
area is the hill known as La Loma del Barco or del Melonar.
All the streets of the town seem to lead to the central plaza, the Plaza de
los Dolores, which is indeed the social and business centre of Iznate. We
can see that it is an open square on the eastern slope of the hill, and here
we find the church and a marble fountain built on to it, complete with the
coat-of-arms of the Marqués de Iznate. Over this is a picture of the Virgin
done in coloured ceramics. The layout of the town is similar to others in
the Axarquía region, with narrow, winding streets and low, whitewashed
houses with window pots.
The origin of the name derives from the Arabic "hisnat," meaning
"castle." The Castle of Aute would thus be Hins Aute, which gives
us Iznate. There is no evidence of earlier settlements here before the
Moorish occupation. Iznate surrendered to the Christian forces at the end of
the 15th century, at the same time as its neighbours in
Vélez-Málaga. The town’s
participation in the Morisco rebellion was severely punished, with the
result that the population of the town dropped to 100 by 1574. The
present population of the town is eight times more, and the local economy is
mainly agriculture. Close
to Iznate is the hamlet of Cajiz, which grew up around the Church of San
José, and whose inhabitants are almost all farmers or farm workers.
Places
to be visited
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Church
of San Gregorio
This is the most interesting building in Iznate, dating from the
16th century with later reforms carried out in 1884 and
1946. It was built with a single nave of 25 metres long, seven
wide and eleven high. There are three chapels to the side with
fairly valuable pieces inside, such as an oil painting of San
Francisco de Paula attributed to the painter Zurbarán, and an
Immaculate Virgin in coloured wood, dating from the 17th
century. On the outside we can
see six buttresses with semicircular arches, with the images of
St. Peter and St. John, crowned with the Jesuit emblem J.H.S.
Above these is the coat-of-arms of St. Gregory VII, installed in
the 19th century after the work carried out on the
building in 1884 by the Dukes of Iznate.
Natural surroundings
The landscape of the municipality is determined by the hills that
run from south east to north west, the highest of which is the
Cerro del Melonar, at 463 metres above sea level, and which
borders with the municipality of Vélez-Málaga. The river Iznate
rises in the area known as the Pozas de Tejero, and it flows into
the river Almáchar. Its seasonal waters are fed by numerous
streams like the La Cañada de los Almencinos, the Noguera, the
Noria and the La Cañada de los Campos. The La Fuente Noguera, or
the Moguera, as it is known locally, is the biggest of the seven
streams that flow through the area, and it is situated at some 400
metres from the western entrance to the town.
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| Where
to eat |
Bar-Restaurante
Hermanos Tejada. Specialising in home cooking. Menú
del día. C/Vélez, Tel: 952 509 814.
Bar Andalucía. Specialising
in gambas al pil-pil (prawns in garlic and oil). C/Vélez, Tel:
952 509 926.
Bar "El Peque". Specialising
in prawns on the griddle. C/Alhondiga. Tel: 952 509 847.
Venta La Loma. Home cooking.
Puerto Cajíz-Iznate. Tel: 952 115 779.
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| Where
to sleep |
Hostal
Puerta La Martina. C/Vélez. Tel: 952 509 839 and 659
666 500.
Rural houses. Fco. Tejada
Campos.C/Vélez Tel: 952 509 839, José Andrés Gálvez Pérez.
C/Portillo. Tel: 952 509 780, Enrique Barranquero Claros. C/Pilar.
Tel: 952 535 642, José Barranquero Claros.C/Pilar. Tel: 606 705
215.
Rural
Accommodation in the province of Malaga
(in
Spanish)
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Church of San
Gregorio VII, dating from the 16th century |
FIESTAS
One of the most traditional festivals in Iznate is the Festival of the
Moscatel Grape, which takes place at the end of August. It has both a
religious and secular flavour, with open-air masses and flamenco singing
and dancing, and the purpose behind it is to celebrate the return of those
who had to work outside the area in the previous year. The festival in
honour of the patron saint takes place on Good Friday, although the really
special day is Easter Saturday. On this day, the festival stewards carry a
small image of Jesus, the size of a baby (Jesus el Niño) and decorated
with olive branches, out of the hermitage and symbolically hide it in the
bushes. The search for the image begins the next day, while the Virgen de
los Dolores is brought in procession to the hermitage. Local people
representing the twelve apostles walk in front, and when they arrive at
the hermitage, St John points out with the index finger of his right hand
the location of the hidden Jesus, the Risen Christ. At the same time St
Peter shakes his head in an enactment of the three times he denied
knowledge of Jesus. On his third enacted denial, he finds the Risen Christ
and joyfully makes his way to the Virgen de los Dolores to point out that
her son has risen from the dead. At this moment fire crackers and
fireworks go off, and four young girls carry the Risen Christ to be
re-united with the Virgen de los Dolores. Later mother and son are brought
back to the church.
GASTRONOMY
The maimon soup is one of the most
traditional dishes in Iznate. There are excellent pastries made locally
too, and on the Day of the Crosses, May 3rd, special baked
cakes are prepared, whose ingredients include flour, olive oil and eggs
cooked inside it. A large quantity of these are made on that day and
brought, along with the Virgen de los Dolores and a number of decorated
crosses, to the Romería at the Puerto de los Claros, close to the border
with Vélez-Málaga. Once there, the crosses are erected alongside the
patron saint at a large stand, upon which are placed the baked cakes for
all to eat.
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