speak of old, the language of the Arabs, the Romans, the Phoenicians. We talked of old, filled with stories of the past, time truffled names of illustrious commoners, of courtiers. We talked of old, of Mariyya Ballis, Bentomiz of Mainake of Maenoba, as-Sarqiya, Abul Cacimar Venegas, El Idrisi, in 
Abulfeda of Ibn Battuta, Abd-al-Basit or Mary Zambrano. We speak of Velez Malaga and talk about history. face imposes such a city, a city that had utmost importance in times of Al-Andalus, which had in the Christian conquest in the war of independence. Impose its past This glorious and modern. Vélez Málaga his gaze rises to the top of a double hill, where on one side shows your face more combative with the presence of the castle tower and other more spiritual his face with the hermitage of Nuestra Señora de los Remedios. A horse is divided between a city of long, winding streets in the newer neighborhoods and alleys in the neighborhood of the town that exudes the limit of the ancient walls. Dot the route from Velez Malaga on religious monuments, monasteries and chapels, churches and crosses that line the city's skyline with its domes and steeples. After the Christian conquest revamped the street and some of its religious monuments of origin Arabs were transformed into the epitome of Christianity and converted into mosques and churches and chapels and convents. The profusion of the latter was such that the municipality was established as the "city convent."
Arrival and parking
Broad avenues lead us into the heart veleño way deceive us. Gradually, paths leading to the historic center is narrow and twisting as they shelter around the old fortress. The best option, since the journey that we will do in Velez force us to walk is to park your car in the streets near the city center and to refer to one of the many places for that, helped by a georeferenced street map or through a GPS, you can start the tour from any of these points. We have done and we start our tour of Velez Malaga in the plaza of the Carmelites.
From the Plaza of the Carmelites to the square of the Constitution
contemplate the convent which is situated opposite the town hall veleño. Imposed by the building, its solemnity, combining the simplicity of his body with the magnificence of its cover. Hit the silence that lies at its side entrance, where is the wheel with which the nuns are communicating with the outside. Is the Convent of Jesus Mary and Joseph also known as the Carmelites. " It was founded in 1702 by the Carmelite Order and is rooted in two large adjoining houses bought in 1699, renovated to look like a single 
enclosed space with limited openings uniform and directed outward to emphasize the rigor of decommissioning. The church was built between 1738 and 1745. Discovered at the foot of the explanatory panels of the monuments, this is the first but in almost all there, a convenient information system. A telephone number, a number assigned to each monument and a number 
for any of the languages \u200b\u200bin which you want to hear the conversation. Keyboard, and typing. Listen. A pleasant voice conveys all the information about the convent. Practical, efficient and rewarding. Go down the street to take a right fork to Montera and Tellez Macias, to turn back to the right 
up by Felix Lomas. In the latter we find an imposing monument. For its architecture and its amplitude. The convent of Our Lady of Grace or convent of Poor Clares. Pure white, forming a rectangle that spans several streets. His entry portico. The origin of this building, the convent of Our Lady of Thanks 
is in the neighborhood of the town where he soon remained small and had to be moved to its present location, high in 1555 and owner of a beautiful Moorish-style cloister. The monastery church was restored in the eighteenth century. Impress Vélez for its size and majesty. Of note in the civil and religious architecture
importance Centennial streets and monuments, the pedigree of its buildings. We walked by a piece of rich history and should be aware of it. From the street Felix Lomas, take, right, Store Street, an important link that connects the older part of town with the latest, by contacting the Constitution Square to the plaza of India. We walked, we passed some neighbors who greet us. Observe their facades, details of flowers, the surprises of their architectures. Collection
on a corner, indicating the traveler, like a lighthouse, the direction to follow, forming a perfect split between the street and the street Shops Piedad chapel we find the chapel of the Virgin of Mercy. Impressive. Impresses with its false simplicity. On the first floor two wooden doors open to reveal an image of the Virgin in all its splendor 
. The whole is topped with a roof on which stands a small flashlight. The image of the Virgin, accommodated behind glass, is surrounded by two Corinthian columns and a pediment resting upon an arch. Flores. We continued down the street Shops on the left.
We are very near the ancient city walls, you can still see paintings of the same standing out, unharmed, at the time. Defensive towers, blades of earthy brick. The offices of the Youth Information Centre trust under them quite naturally as if they had been there forever. Somewhat later, only twenty meters and the right we find the source of Philip II and Ferdinand VI. It is a majestic white marble fountain. Recharged, without concession to sobriety. The water comes from four pipes, through 
d mouth of two separate and mythological animals. We refreshed ourselves in so great a place, built in the sixteenth century and moved to its present location in 1758. In the original source featuring the coat of arms of Philip II and his movement included the coat of Fernando VI, hence the double name regions. opens before us the Constitution Square. Imagine. The year is 1487, the Catholic Monarchs
come to Velez Malaga. Wall spotless who lived the war from afar thanks to agreements and surrenders between winners and losers. Ferdinand and Isabella, kings, cross from here the thick walls of the fortress through the solid door leading into the neighborhood of the town. Since then, this threshold was called Real added, calling Real Gate Villa. One of the four gates that surrounded the old medina, only she is left standing, corner, protected in turn by two towers and a thickness of the wall. This mural fragment is perfectly restored and offers 
a full picture of poise and strength of the defense. front of the old fort is located the granary, a grain warehouse that was used in anticipation of bad harvests, periods of rationing, delicate moments of war. It is a civilian building large, rectangular, white, consisting of two plants that could harbor number of provisions. It is shaped and its floor auction under different arcs form the face of the facade. Fell into disuse and was occupied by private dwellings. There is currently a project to convert it into a cultural center, leisure space.
Presiding over the square of the Constitution we find a singular temple of excellence. Its huge bell tower dominates the skyline. How many feet will it have? We estimate the evil eye cubero ... Twenty, thirty feet? Its privileged position, topping the front of the plaza, located on a natural hill causes the effect is even greater. The church of San Juan Bautista. Built in basilica in the sixteenth century. In the nineteenth century experienced a serious set of reforms initiated by the lawyer veleño D. Federico Vahey, minister of Gracia y Justicia de Isabel II, to promote such a transformation the Mozarabic air temple turned into a neoclassical building. At the door of the church, a Nazarene statue accompanied by an acolyte complete overview of the temple. Sounds like the ringing of bells, a curious rhythmic tapping that goes beyond the traditional touches and displays a complex sequence of musical bass and treble that roam the streets of the town and surrounding areas. From the square of the Constitution to the hermitage of the Virgen de los Remedios
skirt the church and go down the street, Seville, after twenty yards, we left Mercer Street, first right Calle San Francisco. Crossed in front of the door called Casa de Cervantes. An ancestral mansion proportions rather than leading, built in the sixteenth century and looking outside with its facade of balconies and two floors 
p ort, the carriages and the principal, who after a vestibule opens into a courtyard with arches supported on brick columns. We access to the Plaza de San Francisco where two main buildings frame the tremendous activity. One of them, the local food market, which generates a continuous traffic of cars and people carrying shopping bags and belongings and food.
Another, the convent of San Francisco, founded in 1498 on an ancient mosque, which, all that remains visible is the minaret tower transformed into a belfry. The cloister is impressive is Mudejar style, and style of the original church is masked by the revamped later in Baroque style. Inside, the chapel of the Good Shepherd. 
From one side of the convent accede to the facade of Beniel. Solemn, elevated, distinguished, perhaps the most outstanding displays of civil architecture of the town. Underlines its top floor, consisting of a balconied terrace, arches which look to the center of Vélez. It was Alonso de Molina Medrano who had it built 
in the seventeenth century. It was, for a time, the Town Hall and for some years, the headquarters of the Fundación María Zambrano. It houses art exhibitions and archaeological conference, etc.. Surge for the first time here the name of Maria Zambrano, perhaps the most famous of the Watch, a woman committed their time and their time. 
born in Vélez Málaga April 22, 1904 and died in Madrid on February 6, 1991. Writer, essayist, university professor and an eminent philosopher, a disciple of José Ortega y Gasset, has an extensive bibliography that includes elaborate writings on politics and society, the behavior of being at the time, the reason poetry of life and the social, ethical, etc. A complex thought that was curtailed by the obligation of exile. Although in 1937 the same day of the fall of Bilbao, returns from Chile and when asked about the reasons for returning to a land of war and loss, Zambrano 
exhaustively answered with a strong "why." Exile again in 1939 to France and then to Havana, Mexico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Paris, Rome to return to Spain again in 1984. To then it was recognized in 1981 with the Prince of Asturias Prize for Communications and Humanities, with the title of Favourite Daughter granted by the people 
of Velez Malaga, a Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Malaga, Andalusia and Favourite Daughter the Cervantes Prize in 1989. On February 6, 1991 died in Madrid, was buried in his hometown of Velez Malaga. No doubt a fascinating life and work. Beniel From the Palace we Arroyo Street San Francisco
to ascend to the hill of San Cristobal, a privileged hill where stands the church of Nuestra Senora de los Remedios. The climb is not hard, but not easy. Can also be reached by car, but the rise gives us the privilege to enjoy, little by little, the views it offers the hill. Seen the roofs of terraces 
Watch, the terraces of fruit, citrus plantations in the valley, the mountains nearby, the entire village, the steeple of the church of San Juan, the Tower of Homage of the fortress the valley which flows into the Mediterranean, Torre del Mar, and the hermitage ... the profile of Maroma, the highest mountain in the province of Malaga. The view is spectacular. A group of seniors sitting on benches lso viewpoint, winter sun, relax, chat, Mediterranean history with their backs ... The chapel holds a surprise. Its exterior is simple,
whitewashed, pristine white. Its roof is crowned by a belfry from which hang two bells. Its interior is full stop, a living work of art, spectacular. The entrance to the chapel is on your right side and what we expect to find inside, white walls, columns, more or less plot, an interesting coffered ceiling, color melts. All the chapel is painted. Worth noting the work that currently covers 
the inner walls of the chapel, whose total area is around 1,150 square meters. Evaristo Guerra, is the author of this masterpiece, which by the technique of "fresh", "to make the walls transparent" for the Virgin of Remedies can see through them the landscapes of the Axarquia, near the Hermitage and landmarks 
of the city. But tell it not to live. The tones, colors, shapes, the vividness of gesture, the depiction of everyday scenes. Everything turns out to be a hypnotic beauty. We delight in contemplating the murals to discover its secrets, hiding the figures. Details are revealed to us that we had not seen unusual wealth in perspective, the naturalness of expressions of represented. Rested, rest sitting on their wooden benches, flooded by the special light, color, and the feeling of staying inside a box. to the Keep
descend, with the wonders of the mural paintings of Evaristo Guerra still flashing in our eyes. And retrieve the path that leads to the Place de la Constitution. We can get where we have been part of the neighborhood or crossing the street Calzada Herrera, Plaza Santa Cruz, the Cruz del Arrabal, we photograph, cross the square of the tailors and get to the walls leading up to the Royal Gate Villa. We crossed under the arch and immerse ourselves in a world of ancient architecture, twisted path profiling and Arabic. Here are harbored the medina, with its low houses, 
shops, small factories, wells ... Protected under the gaze unmoved de la Torre del Homenaje, sheltered by the walls of the fortress. So we walked along the Calle Real, crossed squares of Espinar Rojas first and then to move up the street to the church St. Shrine of St. María.la Mayor, inside which is the Museo de la Semana Santa. Built on an ancient mosque in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth. The church's interior is spacious, elevated to the heights. The wood paneling, Mozarabic, is particularly highlighted. The whole church is 
royal seriously rich. It is situated at the top of the neighborhood of the town and from the outside overlooking Velez Malaga at his feet. The Museum of Holy Week, as recorded in the interio imagery shows a whole gold crowns and capes, vestments and clothing, clothing for Madonna and her images are blurred to the arrival time of the Passion. Rich ornaments 
denote the power of the church. Beyond earthly powers are the powers of art. The fine detail in which the pieces are carved, filigree and finesse with which the figures are finished, care and dedication of the craftsmen who made them. We leave behind the spiritual and went to the midday sun. From the church take the street Cuesta de Santa María 
and agree, after a low wall at the site of the castle. Standing is the imposing Tower of Homage, and some paintings of the walls that open onto the valley and out to sea. The views are spectacular. Before us open field orchards that extend from the sea into 
area of \u200b\u200bAxarquia in towns like Benamocarra, Benamargosa or access from the Mediterranean to Canillas de Aceituno, Viñuela, Alcaucín or Periana. Natural outlet to the sea, the fortress dominated everything, the arrival of ships, communications with Granada and Almeria and Malaga on the coast to the interior Granada through Zafarraya gap. Vélez Málaga was and is a geostrategic 
suitable for the control of people and goods. From the Torre del Homenaje could see any movement. Today, two young men sit and chat, legs dangling down walls. They talk about girls, night and perfidy. They see a beautiful old past, perhaps without knowing it in his eagerness to live the moment. Carpe Diem. The sun 
tuning the skin with exquisite warmth in winter. We look at different horizons fortelza we proposed and imagine, we imagine everything. Fights, surrenders, Christian knights and Arab caliphs, features Egyptian, Roman expeditions, Phoenician culture. Everything. Torre del Mar
We returned the car with the story still ringing in the ears, now we enjoy the taste of salt. We take the direction of Torre del Mar. We address Town Center and parked in a street near the Paseo Marítimo. Skewered and grilled odors to fish grilled, fried fish. 
kiosks licking sandy beach, large specialty restaurants with fish and seafood as main demand, international restaurants as well ... And the blue sea in conjunction with the sky. Some groups of young foreigners sunbathing clothing, with shirt sleeves rolled up to his chest, capturing the delicate rays 
impact on the sand ... The promenade of Torre del Mar has three kilometers long along the beaches and a wide offer hospitality. Is populated by numerous plant species that make it a large green area and also accompanied by the poems in ceramic Manuel Alcántara, taking as reference the great lighthouse, 26 meters high overlooking the coast Torreño. The tour allows us to see from the headlights (modern and ancient 
Toré Toré Avenue), the Tower Manganeta along the river, and the chapel of the La Noria area. We walk, walk, stop, pecked a couple here and there iron rations of squid, fresh shrimp, two soft drinks, beer. Another walk, more tapas, skewered sardines to. Repose, road, another pit stop for refreshment ... ...
Paseo Farewell
With the light of the murals of Evaristo Guerra in love with the look we now see the Mediterranean Sea, deep blue. We mixed the colors of memory and present, of ancient history and philosophical rationality, of green meadows and high mountains. Velez Malaga lies on a sediment of history which is transmitted, which fits the feet of visitors, the thought of the curious, emotional skin. Every nook and corner provide a visible and a fairy treasure to be discovered daily. We soak all this while, lying on warm sand of Torre del Mar contemplate the deep blue sky. Other information and links
Easter Velen: "Justly considered one of the highlights of Andalusia. The age-old religious tradition
of this city, marked from the late fifteenth century by the construction of numerous monasteries and churches, led naturally to the configuration of external rites reaching its highest expression in Holy Week. Founded very early brotherhoods compete in splendor with other more recently minted for a few days when the city lived almost exclusively by and for the processions. The popular fervor is externalized to the passage of some sororities is so contagious that even the most skeptical of these manifestations of religious just for participating in them with enthusiasm. It would be pointless to highlight a few guilds on other, for all, with its magnificent ornamental and its many devotees, help make Easter Vélez-Málaga a memorable celebration "Information from the website of the Tourist Board of the Costa del Sol (Photo taken from the web municipal de Vélez). Caleta de Velez Caleta de Vélez is another prominent population centers in Vélez Málaga, is located two miles from Torre del Mar and still retains all the atmosphere of a typical fisherman neighborhood. Caleta de Vélez hosts the largest fishing port in the province of Malaga, inescapably linked to water sports. Also in Caleta de Vélez can find a golf course high quality leisure and sport.
Links interest: We take as reference the website of the Tourist Board of the Costa del Sol and the municipal website of Velez Malaga.
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