Ardales – Cave Art, Fortresses and Nature
The Cueva de Ardales is located within the municipality of Ardales, on Cerro de la Calinoria at an altitude of 565 metres, approximately 50 kilometres north of Spain’s Mediterranean coast.
Culture
The cave contains extensive Palaeolithic paintings and engravings, with 1,010 known figurative depictions in 252 different panels or areas.
The guided tour lasts two hours for regular groups and includes Palaeolithic art from the two major phases associated with Neanderthals and Homo sapiens, various excavation areas, a Neolithic burial site, and a visit to the visitor reception centre.
The Centro de Interpretación de la Prehistoria de Guadalteba is located in the former municipal museum of Ardales, extends over two floors and includes, among other things, a virtually designed room, audiovisual content, and an exhibition of an excavation of a Bronze Age necropolis carried out on site.
Bobastro is a medieval archaeological complex from the 9th and 10th centuries, featuring a Mozarabic church carved into the rock, a Muslim necropolis and an adjoining eremitic-monastic complex.
History
Castillo de la Peña is a fortress listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural (BIC) on a rocky hill, with two clearly recognisable defensive rings built of masonry and a present-day cultural use.
Castillo de Turón is located west of the centre of Ardales, above the riverbed of the RÃo Turón. The fortress, listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural (BIC), has several flanking towers, an angled entrance with a ramp, and a barbican.
Nature
The Desfiladero de los Gaitanes is designated both as a Zona Especial de Conservación (ZEC) and as a Zona de Especial Protección para las Aves (ZEPA).
The protected natural area of Desfiladero de los Gaitanes, also known as Garganta del Chorro, has vertical rock walls up to 300 metres high and is no more than ten metres wide in many sections.
The Embalse Conde de Guadalhorce is one of Ardales’s natural tourist resources; visitors come to its shores to relax, canoe, go boating and swim.
The Caminito del Rey was built between 1901 and 1905. The path began at the Renfe railway tracks and led through the Desfiladero de los Gaitanes to facilitate the crossing between its two sides.
In 1921, King Alfonso XIII crossed the previously constructed path at the Conde del Guadalhorce dam.
Festivals and Cuisine
The traditional Fiesta de la Matanza in Ardales preserves the old tradition of sharing home-slaughtered products, a pork Caldereta stew and regional sausages with neighbours.
The celebration includes free tastings of typical sausages such as chorizo, morcilla and salchichón, as well as pork Caldereta prepared over a wood fire; it is recognised at provincial level as a festival of special tourist interest.
The Festival Flamenco de Ardales reached its 47th edition and offered a programme celebrating the art and passion of flamenco.
Further destinations on this page include El Chorro and Pantano Del Chorro.
For the higher-level travel overview: Málaga.
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