Escúzar

Escúzar is situated to the east of Tierras de Alhama, to the north of the Sierra de la Pera, and close to the Vega of Granada, 23 km. away from the capital.

It borders the municipalities of La Malahá, Alhendín, Agron and Ventas de Huelma .

The first written records of Escúzar dater back to the era of Muslim domination. It’s names included Escuzar, and also the name Quemper, now called Temple, situated between the district of Alhama de Granada and the vega of this city. The name Quemper comes from an Arabic tribe, the ‘Qaysis’, who came from the region of Quanb, its provenance being the latin ‘campus’. In the eleventh century Al Udri Qanbar cites the name ‘iqlim Qais’. Al-Mallahi (XII and XIII centuries), according to Ibn al-Jatib, mentions Quemper as ‘iqlim of Gamata.’
 Escúzar was mentioned in the Royal census of 1594 as having only 5 farms (a total of only 20 or 25 people,) all the Moors having been expelled from the Kingdom of Granada, after the war.

In the seventeenth century there was not a great population in Escúzar, because it was only a "farm of the Temple", where Mass was said only on holidays, the most important economic activity being rain-fed agriculture, heavily dependent on the weather because if it does not rain "it is not picked up around the Temple", and its main harvest, grain, dries out and is lost. The information available we have about the next century (eighteenth century) is even sketchier. The population had grown considerably since its early sixteenth-century church was remodeled and enlarged adding a large chapel in the form of a cross, although Escuzar was still considered a village

Monuments

Ermita del Cristo del Rescate (convent)
Iglesia Parroquial de Nuestra Senora del Rosario (Church Our Lady of the Rosary)
Casa de los Fonseca or Casa Grande
Castillejo de Agron
Torre de Escúzar

Gastronomy

Among local dishes are salads, migas, chicken, soups and muffins ‘maimones’. Desserts include rice pudding and ‘los huevos a la nieve’ (eggs in the snow), and the typical ‘escuceño’ gazpacho, which includes toasted bread, or crutons.

Directions

Leaving Granada. At the roundabout, take exit 4 Continue along: E-902 / A-44 heading to Armidale - Motril. Take the exit towards: Exit 132 - Ronda Sur - Sierra Nevada - Alhambra. Head towards: Exit 132 - Armilla - PTCiencias de la Salua. Go through Armilla. Exit Armilla. In Churriana de la Vega, go to: A-338. Pass Gabia Grande and La Malahá. Turn left: GR-3309. Arrive at Escúzar.

Distances