ANDALUCIA

Andalucia is a fascinating place for its spectacular Moorish monuments, beautiful white hill towns, sparkling blue coast and natural beauty of its mountainous country. The Moors were a mixed race of Berbers and Arabs that occupied Spain (Al-Andalus) for almost eight hundred years. They developed the most sophisticated civilization in the Middle Ages, centered in Seville , Cordoba and Granda. Every city, town and village, is a wonderful mixture of Christian and Muslim influence. Granada preserves the most beautiful Moorish monuments, the Alhambra palace, being the largest and most sensual building in Europe. Córdoba's old mosque with a cathedral built inside it and the spectacular remains of the ancient Moorish city of Medna Azahara shold be regarded as a mustsee whislt Seville boasts the most spectacular of all Gothic cathedrals and largest church in the world as well as its Moorish Alcazar.

The white towns surrounding Ronda , offer an unspoiled view into Andalucian life with their surrounding natural beauty, delicious home-cooking and stunning appearance-clustered beneath Moorish/Christian castles and churches. There are some terrific walks in this area.

The mountains in the Sierra Nevada and, less known, the Sierra Morena [particularly its western projection in the Sierra de Aracena offer good trekking and skiing, while the coast between Tarifa and Cadiz Cadiz on the Atlantic has some of the best beaches in Spain. Beware of Europe’s most developed resort area on the Costa del Sol as it is hard to find peace and natural beauty, without paying a high price. Finally, Spain’s largest and most impressive nature reserve, Coto Donana, can be found near Cadiz .

Although unemployment in the province is the highest in Spain (about 20%), it is still known as one of the most high-spirited regions of Spain as it is home to flamenco dancing, bullfighting and a gigantic April carnival (Semana Santa).

COMARES

Comares stands on a rock which overlooks the Periana Corridor and part of the Axarquia sierra to the North, while the immense Velez Valley and the Sierra de Tejeda are visible in the south.

Of Arabic origin, its location suggests that it must have been built as a military vantage point, its layout still conserving the typical features of fortress towns, its narrow, winding streets lined with white one or two-storey houses. Places of architectural interest include the remains of the fortress, Masmullar Hill, the Arabic cistern and Our Lady’s Church, built in Mudejar style. The Cemetery, which stands above the Village, is worth a visit if only for the views from its vantage point.

History

Due to its location atop a mountain overlooking most of the Axarquia area, the village has a long history dating back to prehistoric times.

It may have been the site of Iberian settlements and, later, a Roman colony.

Nazari texts refer to Comares by the name Hisn Qumarich (the Castle of Comares).

It was one of the main defensive bastions of the muladí (Christian convert to Islam) rebellion led by Omar Ben Hafsun before being recaptured at the start of the 10th century by Abderraman III. Some authors have believe the nearby Masmullar or Mazmullar plateau to have been the site of the fortress town of Bobastro, though it seems certain that it actually stood on the Villaverde plateaux, between the present-day villages of Alora and Ardales.

In the 11th century, it was the administrative headquarters of a group known as “The Four Villages” (El Borge, Almachar, Moclinejo and Cutar), which enjoyed the protection of Comares Fortress.

In May 1487, shortly after Vélez Málaga fell into Christian hands, Mohamed El Jabis -the last Moslem governor of Comares- paid homage to the Catholic Monarchs in an attempt to avoid any reprisals and to conserve some semblance of rights for the Moslem population. Though the moriscos (Moslem converts to Christianity) of Comares enjoyed more advantages than their counterparts in other villages of the Axarquia area, their lives would not have easy; proof of this is the gradual abandonment of the village’s lands which are chronicled as having been repopulated in 1490 by Old Christians from Extremadura, other parts of Andalusia, Valencia and even Portugal and Galicia.

In 1512, the town was incorporated in to the estate of the Marquis of Comares, Don Diego Fernandez de Córdoba.

Though the inhabitants of Comares played no part in the morisco uprising which engulfed practically the whole of the Axarquia region in 1568 and 1569, the 1570 expulsion which followed these events affected all of the Mudejars in the area, who were forced to leave lands which they had owned for centuries.