Costa del Sol Spanje

Information about Alhaurin de la Torre,
Geography:
Alhaurin de la Torre is located between the Mountains of Mijas and the Valley of the Guadalhorce River.  The Guadalhorce river flows along the northern edge of Alhaurin de la Torre and its most important streams ("Deep stream", "Cat's stream" and "Flat Mountain stream") pour in it. Malaga is 17km away to the North East.


Alhaurín de la Torre has paleolithic rests and it was probably founded in Gades times, more than 3.000 years ago, when the phoenicians began their wanderings and founded their first commercial factories, encouraged by the rich mineral deposits to be found in the south of the peninsula.  First it was called Lauro Vetus (Old Bay Leaf), Laurona and Laura Bética, where Gnaeus Pompeyo's death is located by Julio César's supporters in 45 B.C., after being defeated in the battle of Munda.   When Lauro Vetus was conquered by the muslims, they called it Albah-Aharrín (merciful God), where Alhaurín de la Torre derived from. Romans and arabics had Alhaurín as a bath. (In more recent times, the springs of Alhaurín de la Torre cured ulcers and other ilnesses.)  In 1485 it was conquered by the Catholic Monarchs who gave the town its name of Alhaurin de la Torre.  The 18th century saw work begin on an aqueduct which was never completed, today the remains of this unusual project still stand, a curious architectural structure which has provided shelter for a series of houses built under what have become known as Zapata Arches (Arcos de Zapata).

At the end of the 19th century, Alhaurin de la Torre, along with the rest of Malaga, was affected by a phylloxera epidemic, which destroyed most of the village’s vines.