Torremolinos tourist information
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.
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.
Surely, it is because of its proximity to Málaga and the fact that for so many years, it was “just another neighbourhood” of the provincial capital, but Torremolinos has no remarkable monuments of any great antiquity except for the Torre Pimentel (Pimental tower). By way of compensation, however, it does have one of the most complete leisure offers on the Costa del Sol, an excellent sports and cultural infrastructure, some charming neighbourhoods, an impressive seafront promenade and some beaches whose quality has allowed it to maintain its position as a leading tourist destination.
Even before the unstoppable tourism boom was unleashed in the late 1950’s, Calle San Miguel was already the nerve centre of Torremolinos. What at first sight may seem just another pedestrian mall crowded with businesses of the kind found in any locality on the coast has been transformed in this case into a thoroughfare with its own unique identity due to its bustling cosmopolitan atmosphere and the odd indefinable feature that confer upon it an ambience that is absolutely different from other streets with similar characteristics.
As you go down this street towards the sea, you will encounter the Torre de Pimentel, which in different eras was also known as the Torre de los Molinos, Torre Molinos and Torre de Molinos (all referring to it as being “the tower of the mills”). There is a virtually exhaustive history of this tower since 1490, both as relates to its nomenclature and as to the repairs that were necessary to it, the personnel that worked in it and other details that are conscientiously collected in various documents. It is the opinion of Juan Temboury that the tower was erected in the fourteenth century, and he describes it as a “rectangular prism measuring 7.2 by 6.1 metres at the base and 6.63 by 5.05 on the roof, with a height of about 12 metres”.
The Casa de los Navajas (Los Navajas house, Calle Las Mercedes) is a beautifully eccentric work by a resident of Churriana who in 1925 decided to build a large mansion in the neo-Mudéjar style, whose architectural canons consist only of unabashedly copying construction done by Muslims under Christian domination between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. This style enjoyed great popularity beginning with the Ibero-American Exposition in Seville in 1929.
The Molino de Inca (Inca Mill, in the Los Manantiales district) is the oldest of all those that used to be in the municipality-in 1923 there were 19 mills-and was the first to receive the water from the mountains. It was used for grinding grain and is now restored. In its surroundings a 40,000 square metre botanical garden has been built that has more than 150 palm trees of 50 different kinds, 300 trees of 60 different species and 400 shrubs from various places. Four strategically placed overlooks have been installed for observing these premises.
The complejo deportivo Ciudad de Torremolinos (City of Torremolinos sports complex), in the suburbs of Torremolinos between the city centre and Los Manantiales, is made up of numerous installations such as the El Pozuelo lawn football field, the Palacio San Miguel multi-use sports facility, the Virgen del Carmen Olympic swimming pool, the track and field grounds, tennis and paddleball courts. This is one of the most complete sports complexes of its type in Andalusia, and numerous foreign teams customarily train in its facilities, especially in winter when the climate in their own countries hinders outdoor sports practice.
The barrio de La Carihuela (La Carihuela neighbourhood) in the western part of the municipality is the paradise of the famous pescaíto frito (small fried fish) and is certainly one of the most famous restaurant districts on the Costa del Sol. Despite the flood of tourists that it receives the neighbourhood has kept its most typical corners intact: narrow streets, small and secluded plazas brimful of plants and flowers and, most of all, its distinctive maritime atmosphere. The seafront promenade links this district to El Bajondillo and Playamar, where just as in La Carihuela the beaches and the culinary offer live up to their reputations.
The Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones de Torremolinos (Torremolinos Congress and Expositions Palace) is located very close to the centre of the city, on a small hill that affords an excellent view of the coast. It has 22 meeting rooms with capacities from 12 to 900 persons and also an exposition hall that can accommodate 180 stands. Its architecture was innovative in its time for its modern form and continues to be remarkable for its solidity and functionality.
The Auditórium Municipal Príncipe de Asturias (Prince of Asturias municipal auditorium) is one of the large cultural infrastructures in this municipality. The building has a surface area of 6,500 square metres and seating capacity for 1,790 persons and standing room for 5,500 more. It was intended for all kinds of events; in it are held musical (opera and zarzuela), dramatic and dance performances, and occasionally it hosts large banquets.
