Casares

Casares is a picture postcard village with a population of just three thousand and the view from the approach is definitely worth a photo.

To say that Casares is beautiful is an understatement. Most of the white villages are beautiful but there is something very special about the sight of Casares that causes the visitor to park the car and simply stare or take a photo.

There are the sugar cubes again, piled precariously high and just nudging the battlements of an Arab castle. It is hard to believe that this enchanting, typical village is only nine miles from the hustle and bustle of the coast and somehow succeeded in avoiding the coach tour circuit.

It is best to approach the village for the first time when driving from the coast road (N340/A7) by turning inland at Km. 147 (between Estepona and Sabinillas) near Torre de la Sal and head inland for 15 km. The scenery is picturesque, so take your time. Suddenly you turn a bend in the road, and are treated to a spectacular view of the village with its medieval fortress.

Luckily there is the Restaurant La Terraza on hand to prepare you for the walk around Casares' hilly streets. Park the Car either here or by one of the other bars a little further on and climb down one of the footpaths that lead into the village. Don't expect rural venta prices.

Head for Plaza de España the main square. The square has improved greatly in the last few years for the point of view of a tourist in that it now has a pavement café which is welcoming. For an even better view try the roof-top terrace.

In the square notice the statue of Blas Infante the Andalucia Nationalist leader who was born here on July 5th 1885 and executed by Franco's own rebels at the start of the civil war. Of the square in Calle Carrera his birth house has been turned into a museum and tourist office.

Those wanting a rewarding experience will follow the narrow street adjacent to the Virgin del Rosario chapel. Keep climbing and eventually you will have reached the top of the town of some 1,400 feet above sea level. There is an old fortress here and a derelict church, as well as a marvelous view overlooking the rooftops of the village.

Watch for peregrine falcons and kestrels and, on a clear day, you will be able to spy on the African coast with the Rock of Gibraltar looming craggily in the foreground.

There are two entrances into the fortifications, so you can take a circular journey. One is an enclosed passageway while the other resembles some kind of formal gate. The base of the walls is certainly Moorish but everything shoulder height or higher dates from after 1500.

The ruined church, Iglesia de la Encarnación was built in 1505, when Spain had been free from the Moros for a number of years. It remained in use until 1845, and the building was badly damaged by anarchists during the Civil War of 1936-39. Today it is locked and deserted.

Near the church is the Hermitage of Vera Cruz. The most striking thing for the visitor, excepting its lack of protection, children on mini scooters and washing out to dry, is the large domed alcove which may have been an altar room. Three of it four walls are still standing and there are pitted here and there bullet holes. During the savagery of the civil war when the church was reduced to ruins it was common for factions to dispose of their enemies by hurling them in time honoured fashion into the deep gorge below. Looking across the gorge to the right of Restaurant la Teraza a simple iron cross marks and remembers another civil war hurling site.

Behind the church next to the cemetery there are the interesting signs of an outdoor auditorium. A modern day amphitheatre. Don't hang around as productions are as rare as ice cream shops. There is not much call for it round here. Who in there right mind would walk all the way up here. Even the beautifully kept cemetery is no longer used for burials, a more practical (for the pole bearers) alternative has been found. The webmaster knew a large man whose dying wish was to be buried in Casares. He always did have a sense of humour.

Leave Casares on the road which winds around the village past the visitors centre and football pitch. When you get to the T junction you can either turn left for Manilva and the coast, or turn right for the next white village with a story; Gaucin.

After one and a half kilometres from this junction in the direction of Manilva a small track can be seen. This was once the main route to Jimena and San Martin. Those who have no objection to a bumpy ride can still use it. Over a cattle grid and past a farmstead a plateau guarded by a ruined sections of wall can be seen. Here lye the unguarded remains of the Iberian and Roman town of Lacipo waiting.

Lacipo was founded in the second century BC for the local population. It grew considerably and its economic strength was based on olive oil. The town was a seat of government for the immediate area until it declined in the second century AD. The largest remain structure that can be seen today is a south facing section of town wall standing 30 feet high. Lacipo's ruins don't offer the traveler who can be bothered to climb the hill a great temple or amphitheatres, but a stunning view and a remarkable insight of two types of architecture standing side by side long after the people who knew then , lived and loved and worked in them have vanished into the years. Be wary of the idly grazing cows.