I found it surrounded by developments, Mediterranean front. From behind construction cranes arrested with half-built buildings, perhaps waiting for better times. A fence around the ruins of Torre Quebrada in Benalmadena, an ancient watchtower. Pigeons nesting in the place where soldiers spent long nights centuries distant darkness peering. Were centuries of wars and empires changing, times when religion dictated the side of each.
Malaga has a thrilling history of episodes. Some of it is reflected in his collection of towers Watcher. A total of twenty towers are divided into different strategic enclaves his former role. Some of them are found leaning out to the coast in places such as Manilva, Mijas or Fuengirola; others are located in inland areas, If the Benahavis Casares, joining this network of small fortifications in addition to monitoring threats from the Alboran Sea were to communicate the news to the troops and inland towns of the Kingdom of Granada.
At least ten Lookout towers owe their origin to the Arab occupation of the peninsula. It was in those centuries when it began construction of this line of defensive towers. They are called watchtowers, term derived from the Arabic word "al-Manara", literally "place of light", in allusion to the fire and smoke signals that the messages were transmitted. In Manilva, in Estepona, Fuengirola and Torremolinos find other Muslim source watchtowers. Some are in ruins, preserved and exploited in tourist areas and in Mijas, where the Tower of La Cala interesting hosts the Interpretation Centre The Watchtowers. Numerous towers dating from the Reconquest, when the Catholic Kings decided to strengthen the communications and defense system.
I visited several towers greet the Mediterranean and in the past showed challenging to those who dared challenge its water from the peninsula. The sun shone on the calm blue sea, a gentle breeze caressing our faces, the same wind that blew past ships sails of marque holders who traveled these waters from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century in search of mutiny on behalf of the nation and its glory. Imagined who only look wherever the night skyline await low crouch in a truck or vessel boarding overloaded fragile dreams, hopes and fear of capsizing cruise. Maybe my eyes are crossed with one of them, I reminiscing, he dreaming of tomorrow; without knowing that with cranes inhabited abandoned buildings seem infinite only by signs advertising sales and rentals. The future seems to have failed to build.
With the name of Sohail, Arabs named not only the Castle but the entire town. Legend has it that because the star of the same name can be seen from the fortress
On a small hill along the coast spotted Sohail Castle in Fuengirola. Although it would be strange not contemplate, in his regal walls and towers stop inviting way and discover. With the name of Sohail, Arabs named not only the Castle but the entire town. Legend has it that because the star of the same name can be seen from the fortress. Anyway, the truth is that the castle was built on ancient Roman ruins and that 1485 Christians took the fortification. Underwent numerous renovations and expansions through the ages, and the takeover by the French during the War of Independence, who in their retreat and as I recall part of the wall flew. Inside, a battery of cannons took his position, once again in front of Mare Nostrum, one whom so many of our roots we. Although there is a small entrance fee to be paid worth the visit if our intention is to walk through the walls and climb their towers dreaming of the past, defying the passage of time, although the soulless central courtyard and conservation pitiful reminded that just used as a stage for concerts in the summer months. Something is perceived when the same person selling entry charges you an ice cream and soda, all without looking up from the book that deals with a word or. The laminated photocopies attached with thumbtacks to a cork board resting on the ground that tell the history of the Castle of Sohail, reveal more than historical data.
A few visits later looked through the car window. Circulábamos the motorway, through coastal towns, where tourists in bathing suit and shirt sandpipers loaded their belongings back to the hotel. And maybe thinking of the Costa del Sol that is precisely the image that our mind recreates, day of relaxation, beach, sun terraces. But this coast and its people represent well over in the pages of our history. There are passages in which Arab roots arose that gave us fascinating architecture, and more common words that one is the scratch in a past that remains between us. A yesterday looking from the other side of a sea that must unite us seem separate. A line forgotten watchtowers built by Muslims and Christians, yesteryear wrapped sword battles, relieved today by fanaticism and intolerance which monitoring is performed from patrol towers instead, replacing wire castles and ultimately remind us that we could fight if necessary up to a small island named seasoning. And is that the religious intolerance, residence permits, conquest and reconquest, you look at certain cards while traveling past Iberian and wonders, Therefore we have changed??
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