Botanical Gardens   Arqueological Excavations   Opening Hours

Tucked beneath the castle walls, Almuñécar's Majuelo Park is both a monument and a lively public area. It's subtropical gardens and important aqueological remains are quite unique and should be visited if at all possible.

Botanical Gardens

These delightful gardens are home to one of the largest outside collections of tropical and subtropical plants in Europe. There are more than 400 exotic trees, bushes and other plants, from the fragrant frangipani to the majestic royal palm. Colours delight the eye throughout most of the year while shady bowers provide a welcome respite from the heat, especially in summer. The gardens are particularly beautiful in the evening light.

A small stage is used for live concerts and shows, particularly during the summer, with the floodlit castle walls towering above as backdrop. It is indeed a magical setting, enjoyed by thousands during the summer's fiestas and particularly the popular week-long Jazz Festival (see Calendar).

Within the park you'll also find a number of small buildings containing workshops and a bar.

Visitors will quickly see the huge excavated area at the centre of the park. These are what remain of a lucrative fish-salting industry first started by the Phoenicians and then expanded and 'industrialised' by the Romans. The constructions you can see are the salazones, or salting pits, and foundations of the buildings which contained them. Between them run water channels and narrow passageways. Clearly only a part of the original complex has been excavated and further constructions still lie beneath the rest of the park.

The fishing industry must have been extremely important during ancient times judging by its emphasis in historical texts, and Sexi, as Almuñécar was then called, was considered one of the most important fish-salting centres in the Mediterranean. Since as early as the 4th century bc, chroniclers have mentioned the famous conserved products from the town, especially the nutritious garum, a kind of fermented fish paste that, according to most accounts, tasted horrible. Obviously the other products were kinder on the palate because by the 2nd century a.d. the writer Galeno talks of them as being the most famous of their time. (For more about garum, read our Brief History.)

Established by the Phoenicians, the fish-salting industry in Sexi was already well known by the end of the 5th century b.c., but it is with the construction of the Roman aqueduct during the 1st century a.d. that we see a major shift in the economy which, by all accounts, continued healthily for the next 300 years until the market for local products disappeared with the decline of Rome, around the end of the 4th century a.d. Curiously, there is evidence that the salazones were also used during Arab times, but to a much lesser extent.

The park is open during daylight hours in summer and until approximately 19.30 during the winter. For special evening events it's kept open until midnight or later.

MORE SIGHTSEEING

Aqueduct   Castle   Church (Almuñécar)   Cotobro Bridge   Loro Sexi Bird Park   Municipal Museum Statues, Monuments & Fountains    Watchtowers & Coastal Defences