ARCHIDONA

Archidona is a fair sized town lying at the foot of the Pico del Conjuro mountain. It is just 20 kilometres from Antequera and 50 kilometres from Málaga and borders the province of Granada. It can be reached from the South via the A45 or just off of the 92m between Granada and Sevilla.

Today the town and its outskirts have a combined population of around 10,000, many of them employed in olive production and other agricultural activities. Many locals emigrated in the 1970s to northern industrial parts of the country and overseas in search of work.

History
Archidona's history stretches all the way back to the Phoenicians and Romans, but its names stems from the period of the Moorish occupation, when it was known as 'Medina-Arxiduna.' There were various distinct stages to Archidona's Moorish occupation.

When Abd Al Rahman I was proclaimed emir of Cordoba in 756 the town became the capital of a region which coincides approximately with modern Málaga province. Archidona then played a key role in the rebellion of Berbers, Mozarabs (Christians in Moorish Spain) and renegades in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, led by Ben Hafsun, whose stronghold was the Bobastro fortification. Archidona passed back and forth between the hands of the emirs and the rebels until 907 when it was definitively conquered by emir Abd Allah.

The town flourished at the end of the 10th century, becoming an important commercial, industrial and agricultural centre, although 100 years later political and economic divisions had left the town impoverished. Archidona experienced a second boom at the beginning of the 13th century, this time due largely to the silk trade. But in the 14th century commerce was upset once again by the onset of the Christian campaigns in Christians in 1462 after a two-month siege.

An enduring legend from the Muslim period is that of the 'Rock of the Lovers.' The story goes that the daughter of the fortresses' 'wali', who was called Tazgona, was in love with a young man called Muhamed. But her father had promised. Tazgona to the old governor of Alhama. The two young lovers therefore decided to end their lives, and threw themselves from the top of the rock which is named in their memory. The wali, who until the tragedy had been a benevolent man, became cruel and irascible, and became known as 'The Vulture of Archidona.'

Architecture and Things to See
There are a number of beautiful monuments and places of interest in Archidona's old quarter, which has been declared a Town of Historic and Artistic Importance. One of the most important is the monuments in honour of Archidona's patron saint, the Santísima Virgen de Gracia. The hermitage was erected after the Reconquest on the site where a mosque once stood within the Moorish castle. Remains of the old castle and the Medieval wall on the highest point of the town remain.

The 18th century Plaza Ochavada is the town's main focal point with plenty of bars, cafés, shops. The Baroque plaza is octagonal in shape and was built by local master builders Antonio González Sevillano and Francisco Astorga Frías, whocombined French and traditional Andaluz styles, giving the plaza a surround of elegant white facades, with balconies and doors and red brick arches. The Plaza de la Victoria is another of the town's
main meeting points and is where some of Archidona's most important buildings are located, including the old grain store and now the Town Hall, and the 16th
century Victoria church.

The Santa Ana Parish Church was first built at the beginning of the 16th century, with alterations carried out in the 19th century. It is most noted for its triangular tower and richly decorated interior.

The Las Mínimas convent, of the Order of San Francisco de Paula, was constructed in the mid-sixteenth century but the church is from the eighteenth. It has a beautiful baroque façade and a slender polygonal red brick tower with a polychrome ceramic spire. For its part, the La Victoria church, also from the sixteenth century, has a balanced Mannerist façade crowned by a brick belfry, this material being very much used in construction during that era.

Places of Natural Beauty
Archidona does not only sit on the Sierras and drink in the olive groves and meadows but tucks away difficult pathways which lead to some of the most beautiful beauty spots in Andalucia.. O the sough of the town, form the road to Villlanueava del Trabuco, there is a pathway which enters by the Marin brook into one of the prettiest spots in the province, La Hoz del Arroy Marín. Here you will find a forest of beautiful pines and rippling brook, tranquillity on many a hot day. Another spot, not as spectacular as the previous one is the shelter of the Lagunas de Archida, las Chica and la Grande, to get there you also have to use a dirt track which comes from the access to Malaga by the Pedirizas.

Food and Drink
Amongst the many typical dishes you can try while you are in Archidona are:
Gazpacho (delicious and nutritious cold soup),
"Gachas de Mosto" (sweet pancakes with grape juice and nut mix filling),
"Guiso de patatas" home made potato stew, "Porra" (a thicker version of Gazpacho and served with chopped up boiled egg, Serrano ham and diced bacon).

Fiestas
San Isidro, Patron Saint (15th of May)
La Feria del Perro (end of May or the first weekend of June)
Fiesta of San Antonio (13th to 15th June)
San Juan ( June 24th with a fireworks midnight on the 23rd)
Fiesta of San Aurelio (around the 27th July)
Village Fair & Fiestas of the Virgen de Gracia (August the 14th to 18th Patron Saint of Archidona).