Costa de la Luz

Coastal
routes
The domains of
Guzmán el Bueno
For nearly eight centuries
this part of the Coast lived
through alternating periods of
peaceful coexistence and
warfare between Arab and
Christian. Perhaps the image
that best encapsulates the
confrontations between
the two cultures is that of a
knight who hurls a dagger
from the battlements and
enjoins the Arabs to slay his
son with it. The knight
concerned is known to history
as Guzman el Bueno and the
episode occurred at the
fortress of Tarifa, which still
stands (albeit very much
altered) along with the
original city walls. Within is
the church of Santa María,
built upon the remains of a
mosque. The ancient fortress
and the small peninsula of
Punta Tarifa provide fine
vantage points from which to
view the coast of Africa.
Thanks to the west and east
winds, Tarifa today is a
paradise for windsurfing (it is
the venue for international
windsurfing championships)
and acqualung fishing. There
are three beaches: Bolonia
(6 km), Los Lances (10 km) and
La Plata (4 km).
Inland from the stretch of
Atlantic coast between Tarifa
and Cadiz are numerous
ranges where fighting bulls
are raised. Fourteen
kilometres from Tarifa a road
leads off to the Ensenada de
Bolonia. Here lie the ruins of
the Roman town of Baelo
Claudia, now a museum, and a
vast extent of white, sandy
beach.
Beach. Tarifa
DE DOÑANA
Trebujena
Sanlúcar
de Barrameda
Chipiona
Rota
El Puerto de
Santa María
CÁDIZ
Lebrija
IV
San Fernando
Chiclana
Sancti-Petri
Puerto Real
A-4
Arcos de
la Frontera
Jerez
de la Frontera
PARQUE NATURAL
DE LA BAHÍA DE CÁDIZ
Medina
Sidonia
Puerto Serrano
Villamartín
Algodonales
Bornos
Prado
del Rey
Alcalá de
los Gazules Jimena
de la Frontera
Conil de
Vejer
la Frontera de la Frontera Los Barrios
PARQUE NATURAL BREÑA
Y MARISMAS DE BARBATE
340 PARQUE NATURAL
DE LOS
Cabo de Trafalgar Barbate ALCORNOCALES
Zahara de
los Atunes
Algeciras
Ensenada de Bolonia
Punta Camarinal
Tarifa
Punta de Tarifa
Also on this stretch of the
coast is Zahara de los Atunes,
a fishing town of long
tradition where bungalows
and residential estates have
sprung up in recent years.
In spring and late summer
visitors to Zahara can still
witness the time-honoured
spectacle of tuna fishing from
the shore with nets.
Olvera
Ronda
Estepona
340
Ten kilometres further on is
Barbate, site of the famous
Caños de Meca, an area of
exceptional beauty with
natural springs and numerous
pine groves crowding almost
to the sea’s edge. Hard by is
Cape Trafalgar, whose
lighthouse stands as a
reminder of the famous battle
Baelo Claudia. Bolonia
2
3