La Herradura is a seaside resort on Spain's Costa Tropical, part of the borough of

Almuñécar Almuñécar () is a Spanish city and municipality located in the southwestern part of the comarca of the Costa Granadina, in the province of Granada. It is located on the shores of the Mediterranean sea and borders the Granadin municipalities of ...

, in the province of Granada, Andalucía. It is on Granada's south-western coast, 70 kilometres east of Málaga.

History

La Herradura's first settlers have been dated to prehistoric times. Several tombs with remains of bronze weapons were found in El Pago de la Mezquita in the 19th century. In 1950 another similar, but better documented, discovery in El Sapo was dated to the 15th century BCE. There are vestiges of habitation from

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

, in places such as in the country house de la Argentina, in the ravine of Las Tejas, and in the construction of the old road from Málaga to Almería. There are also the remains of a hermitage or rural mausoleum of

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

design from the sixth century AD in the upper course of the river Jate. More information is available post-dating the

Umayyad conquest of Hispania The Umayyad conquest of Hispania, also known as the Umayyad conquest of the Visigothic Kingdom, was the initial expansion of the Umayyad Caliphate over Hispania (in the Iberian Peninsula) from 711 to 718. The conquest resulted in the decline of t ...

, such as the existence of a farmhouse called "Sät" or "Xat". Abd al-Rahman I arrived in La Herradura in 755 from Damascus, prior to the foundation of the Califato de Córdoba. The area was the scene of a battle in the Muwallad revolt in the 9th century. The raisins exported from this l-Andalusregion were considered the best in the Islamic world at this time. The

watchtower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

of Punta de la Mona, restored in the 18th century and now serving as the base for a lighthouse, dates from the Nasrid period. It was part of a chain of

watchtowers A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

running along the coast that were rebuilt in the late 16th century to guard against corsairs. Cerro Gordo has a similar 10.5-meter-high tower that was part of this warning system, using smoke signals during the day and fire at night. In 1764, Charles III of Spain ordered the construction of nine fortresses along this coast and La Herradura castle was finished in 1768. This defensive system of forts and towers was reinforced before the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

. French forces later took La Herradura castle before

guerilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run t ...

soldiers under the Mayor of Otivar recaptured it. It served as the barracks of the

Carabineros The was an armed carabiniers force of Spain under both the monarchy and the Second Spanish Republic, Second Republic. The formal mission of this paramilitary gendarmerie was to patrol the coasts and borders of the country, operating against ...

and then the Civil Guard before becoming a cultural centre, used for concerts and similar events. Originally on the seafront, the castle now stands well back from the shore because of sea-level changes. On 19 October 1562, 25 Spanish galley warships from a fleet of 28 sank in La Herradura Bay in the La Herradura naval disaster, with the loss of up to 5,000 of those aboard. A monument on La Herradura’s seafront commemorates the tragedy. Erected in 1990, it is by Granada-based sculptor Miguel Moreno. In the 19th century, several families of Italian fishermen settled in La Herradura. Two of these families were the ancestors of the current Barbero and Garciolo families. During the 20th century the rapid growth in tourism experienced throughout Spain caused major changes in La Herradura. In modern times, there has been a call by a small group for separation from the municipality of

, without any success to date.

Geography

La Herradura is on the Spanish shore of the Mediterranean, standing on the horseshoe-shaped bay from which it takes its name ("La herradura" is Spanish for horseshoe). Its two-kilometre-long sand and pebble beach is divided into several parts by rocky promontories and a river outlet. An unusual feature of Playa La Herradura are its stands of palm trees. Behind the beach is the main street, Paseo

Andrés Segovia Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students. Segovia's contribution to the m ...

, lined with cafés, restaurants, bars, shops and apartments. The older town of La Herradura was built with typical whitewashed Andalucian houses on the steep sides of a

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water ...

of the same name running down to the eastern side of the beach. As the settlement has grown from a fishing village into a tourist resort, more modern developments have spread along both sides of the bay and into the surrounding hills. It is the most western coastal urban area of the province of Granada and borders the town of Maro, in the district of

Nerja Nerja () is a municipality on the Costa del Sol in the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. It is part of the comarca of La Axarquía. It is on the country's southern Mediterranean coast, about 50 ...

. Inland is the Sierra de la Almijara, popular for hiking. La Herradura is the only coastal town in Granada with an indigenous nature reserve. The Maro–Cerro Gordo Cliffs Natural Park is a small area of natural flora and fauna between Cerro Gordo, the headland at the western end of La Herradura Bay, and the town of Maro. Both the land and the seabed, which preserves

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

s and endangered species, were declared a Natural Site in the 1980s by the Autonomous Government. The flora includes Mediterranean pines, carob, juniper, boxwood, olive and palm trees, while the fauna is most notable for numbers of wild mountain goats (Iberian Ibex). There are various coastal hiking trails of varying lengths and difficulty. The reserve is a major attraction for La Herradura’s many diving centres, as well as nature photographers and

birdwatchers Birdwatching, or birding, is the observing of birds, either as a recreational activity or as a form of citizen science. A birdwatcher may observe by using their naked eye, by using a visual enhancement device like binoculars or a telescope, by ...

. The eastern headland of Punta de la Mona separates the town from the marina of Punta de la Mona, formerly called Marina del Este, the beach of Los Berengueles and the naturist beach of El Muerto which borders Cotobro ravine. To the west of Cerro Gordo is the naturist beach of Cantarriján, which borders the province of Málaga.

Limits

La Herradura is bordered to the north by the municipality of Otívar, to the east by the ravine of Cotobro and the town of Almuñecar, to the south by the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...

and to the west by the ravine of Cantarriján and the municipality of Nerja.

Demography

According to the Spanish National Statistical Institute, in 2012 La Herradura had 4,248 inhabitants.

Culture

Celebrations

Saint Joseph (San José aŋ xoˈsein Spanish), the town’s patron saint, is honoured every year with a fair and other events around 19 March. Fiesta de las Cruces (Day of the Cross), or Cruz de Mayo (May Cross), is celebrated from 1 to 3 May. The night of San Juan from 23 to 24 June sees bonfires lit on the beach. At midnight, people wash their eyes in the sea, for good luck throughout the year. Traditionally, this marked the first bathe in the sea of the summer season.

Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

with a unique brotherhood that has as headlines all the images that come out during Holy Week and San José and the Virgen del Carmen (Brotherhood of La Herradura). La Virgen del Carmen, patron saint of fishermen and sailors, is celebrated on 16 July. A flower-covered effigy of the Virgin Mary – Stella Maris, "Queen of the Sea” – is paraded through the streets and taken out to sea in a flotilla of fishing boats, with a firework display at night. Traditionally, the sea is not considered safe enough to swim in until after it has been blessed on this date. Dawn Rosary takes place in the early hours of 21 to 24 December, a tradition that dates back to the end of the 19th century. An image of the Virgin Mary on a banner, flanked by two lanterns, is carried through the streets of the town. The parade is accompanied by musicians with string instruments, bells and triangle and singers praising the Virgin. The parade ends with a mass, and typical Andalucian carols.

Eminent personalities

Jesús Espigares Mira, president of

Interpol The International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO; french: link=no, Organisation internationale de police criminelle), commonly known as Interpol ( , ), is an international organization that facilitates worldwide police cooperation and cri ...

between 2000 and 2004, was born in La Herradura in 1946. He was the first Spaniard and first native Spanish speaker to run the institution.

References

{{coord, 36, 44, 05, N, 3, 44, 16, W, display=title, region:ES_type:city Almuñécar Towns in Spain