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Municipality of Nerja (Andalusia, Spain)

Málaga Province

Introduction

See also:

Málaga Province (Andalusia, Spain)
Andalusia (Spain)
Spain

Introduction

Basic data:

Size: 84.4 Km²
Population: 16,500
Residents known as: Nerjeños
Monuments: Church of El Salvador, hermitage of Las Angustias, Aqueduct of El Aguila, Rapto de Europa (a statue), Barco de Chanquete (a boat), El Quijote – Castellano language, Nerja Caves.
Geographic location: 50 kms. from Malaga, 60 from the airport on the Autovía del Mediterráneo or the N-340, and 100 kms from Granada.
Tourist information: Tourist Office, Puerta del Mar, 4.
Phone: 952 521 531
On the Internet: www.nerja.net

Nerja is the easternmost municipality in the province of Malaga, lying between the foothills of the Sierra Almijara and the coast. There are two main areas of Population: the town of Nerja itself and the little hamlet of Maro. At the entrance to the town of Nerja from the western end, on the N-340 main road, there stands a sculpture by Aurelio Teno known as the Rapto de Europa (the abduction of Europe), which was set up to commemorate Spain’s entry into the European Community in January 1986. At the southern tip of the town a famous promontory, known as the Balcón de Europa, hangs over the sea. It was built on the spot occupied by the Guards’ Tower in Moorish times and constituted the starting point for present-day Nerja, which began to develop as a settlement about 500 years ago, in the reign of Queen Juana la Loca (Joan the Mad). This was after the last Moors, who lived at the Castillo Alto farmstead in Naricha (the old name for Nerja), about two kilometres up the Frigiliana road, had finally left.

One of the main historical buildings in the town is the Church of El Salvador, built at the end of the seventeenth century (1697) on the site of the old castle chapel. Enlarged in 1770, it now houses a magnificent mural of the Incarnation on a Nerja beach by one of the great masters of new European painting, Francisco Hernández, and a bronze Christ, like the statue at the entrance to the town, by sculptor Aurelio Teno. The original atmosphere of an Andalusian Mediterranean village is preserved in the streets in the old part of the town. Another attractive feature is the Verano Azul (blue summer) Park – named after a TV series filmed here, which brought fame to the area – and the boat, El Dorado, belonging to the main character, "Chanquete."

The River Miel flows out into the sea in this area, with an old paper mill standing near the mouth. It was built at the end of the eighteenth century by Manuel Centurión Guerrero de Torres, who was Governor General of the overseas province of Guayana in the reign of King Charles III. On the road between Nerja and Maro you will pass by a beautiful piece of engineering work, erected at the end of the nineteenth century. This is an aqueduct that was used to transport water from a spring in Maro to the San Joaquín de Maro sugar factory.

Blas Delgado, Oct 14 2005