Almuñécar

Almuñécar is one of Spain's oldest continuously inhabited towns. Bronze Age settlers were the first, followed by Phoenician colonists who established a trading settlement called Ex, Seks, or Sexi. By the time Romans arrived in the late republican period, they found a well-organised city already built on fish-salting and garum production. The Romans added temples, a theatre, and an aqueduct, upgrading it to the Latin municipality of Sexi Firmum Iulium.

In 755, the Umayyad prince Abderramán I landed at its port, and the following year founded the Emirate of Córdoba. Under Moorish rule the town produced sugar cane, bananas, raisins, and grain, and was noted by geographers for its fishing. It had a port, markets, outer districts, and a great mosque. During the Taifa period it fell under the Kingdom of Granada and became its most important coastal settlement, with the Nasrid royal family using it as a seasonal residence.

The coast surrendered to Castilian forces in December 1489, with the capitulation signed in Almuñécar itself. In 1569 the Morisco leader Aben Aboo attacked the town with three thousand men but failed to take it. Carlos I had a great fortress built here, which the British blew up in 1812 to drive out French troops. Turkish pirate raids in an earlier century had already forced much of the population to retreat to the mountains inland.

Almuñécar sits roughly 55 minutes by car from both Granada and Málaga airports, which are equidistant. ALSA runs bus services from both airports, and taxis are available at each; fares run around €130 from either airport (Apr 2023), though prices vary by day and time. Private transfer companies offer fixed-rate alternatives, and Uber operates in both airport cities.

There is no train line to Almuñécar. By road, arrive via the coastal A-7 highway (exit onto the N-340) or the inland A-4050, known as the Carretera de la Cabra, connecting Granada to the coast. Local seafood worth seeking out includes monkfish (rape), red sea bream (besugo), squid (calamares), grouper (mero), croaker (corvina), and shellfish paella, with several beachside restaurants serving these outside.

The area's semi-tropical climate produces mangos, avocados, loquats, cherimoyas, papayas, guavas, lychees, kiwis, figs, and prickly pears — the last used in ice cream and jams sold in local coffee shops. Traditional local cakes include the almond-based Cazuela Mohína (with brown sugar, sesame, and aniseed), the wafer-and-honey-wrapped Torta de Alhajú, and the meringue-topped sponge Merengazo. Local drinks include chirimoya liquor and Palo de Almuñécar, an herbal liquor made from herbs and spices macerated in brandy.