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 This village in the Axarquia region boasts of having the best climate in Europe. Its warm summer and winters are the reason of such an exceptional distinction. Torrox perfectly combines modernity and classicism, tradition and tourist development.
Torrox is located 50 kilometers east of Malaga International Airport on the lovely coast road to Almunecar, just there the La Alpujarras Mountain in Granada.
Torrox is one of the most stunning villages in the province of Malaga. It Moorish design, its valuable and distant past, and its promising tourist future make it a spot not to be missed. This town belongs to the select group of Andalusian white villages. It is an inevitable passage in that route which winds its way up into the inland of Vinuela Lake area, Granada, Cadiz and Malaga, whose common factor is lime, brightness, nature and tradition.
Moreover, Torrox boasts an inestimable treasure, the sea. A distance of four kilometers separates the narrow streets in the centre of this village from the vast coastal beaches. Torrox Costa has managed to become a new paradise for international tourism, without losing an inch of its huge heritage.
Torrox history
As almost every village on this side of the Mediterranean, the Muslim past has left its indelible mark upon Torrox. However, it is necessary to go back to earlier times to find the origins of this location. Documentation, together with the excavations carried out in the environs; prove the existence of a Punic-Phoenician emplacement. Nevertheless, the most significant finds come from the Roman Empire. In the well-know Punta de Torrox at the foot of the lighthouse, lies the site of Claviculum. Discovered in 1905, these ruins reveal what was once a group of houses, a necropolis and some thermal baths.
According to the surveys in this respect, Torrox become a factory town, founded in the 1st century, whose main resources were sea trade and the plant of garum production, which was a fish sauce essential in the Roman diet.
Toward the 5th century, the population fled to the inland to protect themselves against corsair attacks. It might have been then when the village of Torrox was born on the hill where it lies nowadays. But it is in the 11th century when a written reference to this locality with its present name appears for the first time. Various Arab writers – from poets to geographers, mention “Turrux”. The town of towers since many were the watchtowers which stood out on the cliffs to watch the comings and goings of ships.
Prince Abd ar-Rahman
This long period under Arab rule has left a very deep mark in the soul and body of this population. Its importance within the Al-Andaluz history is indisputable. In the year 775, when the prince Abd ar-Rahman, the last representative of the Umayyad dynasty from Syrian landed at Almuñecar, along the coast of Andalucia, and arrived to Torrox. From the old castle of this town, the prince attacked the town Archidona and become the first Muslim emir of the believers. Then, after conquering the capital, Cordoba, the Arab rebel proclaimed himself caliph of the new Reino Andalusi. He died in Cordova 788.
In addition, Torrox has the honour to have been the cradle of one of the most notable warriors in that time, the fearful Almanzor.
Torrox Today with tourism
Torrox today – a peaceful Spanish white town with 12.000 people witch actually is divided into two parts, the whitewashed mountain town with its narrow steep streets and a whole host of flowers and potted and Torrox Costa at the sea with there 9 kilometers of coast with sandy beaches. Tourism is the biggest incomes for the people in Torrex, but also from olive trees and vineyards and a large numbers of glasshouses have lately been constructed for tomatoes, cucumber, and other popularly vegetable.
Today you can find and visit many small workshops producing art, cotton rugs, the hand made baskets from the esparto grass, olive oil, cheese, tasty honey liquor and many other local products, who you can find also on the weekly local markets in Elviria, San Pedro, Marbella, Fuengirola and many other towns on Costa del Sol.
A climatic Eden
Protected by the rugged Tejeda Mountains, Torrox constitutes a matchless climatic Eden in the South of Europe. Thanks to this climate, during the last years, the coastal area in this region has undergone, an amazing transformation in every sphere, social, economic and of course, architectural. El Monrche, Ferrana, La Carraca, El Peñoncillo, Mazagarrobo, Calaceite of Vilchez are dark-sanded beaches, almost virginal. Places, all of them, pervaded by a deep fishing flavour.
Higher in the mountains, the village of Torrox lives immersed in its quite customs. Is shining whiteness, only altered by the green, red and yellow colours which sprout from the numerous flowerpots adoring balconies, windows and courtyards, and its narrow and steep streets, which offer nice shadows, draw a village of unfathomable charms. To all this we must add a natural framework dominated by valleys, mountains and rivers, by crops and flourishing orchards.
But that is not all. The gifts of an irresistible local cuisine, the kindness of its pleasant inhabitants, the allure of its festivities and ancient customs, of the simple fascination with a life away from the thunder of modernity are enough attraction to captivate the visitor from the first moment. Torrox belongs to the last isolated paradises. This village of the Axarquia region has its own brightness, a brightness that emanates miraculous like a stream, and is calmly deposited between the lime of its houses and the salt of its waves.
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