Casarabonela - Málaga
Casarabonela is located to the northeast of the Valle del Guadalhorce, bordering on Antequera and Ronda. The town is to 500 metres above sea level and to 48 kilometres from the capital. The rainfall average is 710 l/m2 and the average temperature is 17º C
Casarabonela is one of the towns that has combined its Muslim and Christian past, preserving a part of the plan of the old Casr-Bonaira, and you can observe the Muslim heritage in each spot of this wonderful town: its white facades, narrow and steep streets.
The lands of this municipality go up into the region of Ronda through the mountains of Alcaparaín and Prieta, and come closer to the River Turón. The richness of flora and fauna just as the landscape variety made easier its integration in the Parque Natural de la Sierra de la Nieves, declared by the UNESCO Reserva de la Biosfera in 1995.
The terrain loses height towards the central area of the region, where you can find olive groves and the growing of cereals, while around the town you can observe the effort of the man in order to model the land, and its rich vegetable garden, inherited from the art of the irrigation introduced by the Arabs, together with its numerous spouts and springs, that relieve the traveller’s thirst in summer.
As for the history of Casarabonela, the appearance of Neolithic traces in the caves of the mountains in the municipality, prove the presence of the man in these lands in distant times. But the most important old testimonies belong to the Roman Age. These ones create in what nowadays is located , a first settlement like an advanced post that called Castra Vinaria –castle of the wine – and built roads that crossed its region. We can observe remains two of them, one that linked Casarabonela to Málaga through the south and another with through the west.
The Arabs extended and reinforced the old Roman fortress and kept its name, that due to popular distortion finished pronouncing Csar Bonaira, from what its present name came from. The Arabs increased their defences so much, that it was the last town of the area that fall into the Christian troops during the Reconquest. From the XV century it is used the name of Casarabonela.
After the expulsion of the Moorish, the lands were distributed among inhabitants from Extremadura and other areas of Andalucía. In 1574, Felipe II gave it the title of Villa, according to the Carta Puebla that is preserved in the archive of the Town Hall.
Monuments
Barrio del Arrabal
Arco de Entrada en Fuente del Cristo
Caños y Fuentes
Casas - Cueva
Castle Fortress of El Rey Chico
Cruz de la Fuensanta
Hermitage of La Veracruz
Hermitage of El Calvario
Fuente Quebrada
Hornacinas
Church of Santiago Apóstol
Plaza de Buenavista
Puente
Torre Chimenea
Archaeological Sites
Gastronomy
Casarabonela is famous because its olives and pickles, cold meats, honey and homemade confectionery.
We have to emphasize some typical dishes like the stew, lean with tomatoes, tripe, carrillada, rabbit, salmorejo (a cream consisting of tomato and bread), loin, moragas and the gazpachuelo (fish stock, mayonnaise made with garlic, yolk and olive oil), as well as the wild asparagus.
How to get there
The most advisable approach road that departs from the Costa del Sol to Casarabonela is the Motorway A-357, from Málaga to Ardales. In this town you have to take the MA-446, and after covering 12 kilometres, you have to go off course by the MA-445, that leads to Casarabonela. Another access departs from the Motorway A-7 (N-340), in the stretch between the airport and Torremolinos. The road A-366, towards Coín, leads us to Alozaina, and from there you have to go off course by the A-6208, that leads you to Casarabonela.
Distances
To Málaga 46 km
To Granada 170 km
To Marbella 47 km
To Antequera 58 km
To Pizarra 16 km
To Álora 22 km
