The jewels of the Malaga enclave that wants to be a World Heritage Site

Even the project to enhance the Caminito del Rey, which has served to revitalize inland tourism in the area, cannot overshadow everything that surrounds it.

The famous walkway is just the most visible part of a region where ... you can see one of the most important caves with prehistoric paintings in Europe or what was the heart of a revolt that challenged the power of the Umayyads more than ten centuries ago.

It is a historical and natural ensemble that submitted its official candidacy to UNESCO years ago, aspiring to become the second World Heritage Site in Málaga.

For this, in addition to the Caminito del Rey itself and its unique history, there are natural and historical sites that are of great importance nationally or even globally.

These landmarks, all located within 20 kilometers of the walkway, include the Ardales cave, the Aguilillas necropolis, the Bobastro rock church, and the natural area of the Gaitanes Gorge.

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The latter, considered one of the most spectacular gorges in the country, is traversed by the Guadalhorce River. This impressive canyon reaches heights of up to 300 meters and a width of less than ten. It is undoubtedly one of the best postcards of the province of Málaga.

Its protection as a natural site is due to its extraordinary geomorphological interest and the presence of interesting fauna, among which the griffon vulture stands out. This ecological space, covering more than two thousand hectares, can be explored today thanks to the reopening of the Caminito del Rey.

The Ardales cave is also valuable for its geology, but especially for its findings. This cavern, located in the town of the same name, contains prehistoric paintings from the Solutrean period, an important Neolithic site, and several Chalcolithic burials.

It is the only archaeological site in Málaga included in the European Cultural Itinerary 'Cave Art Ways'. It has good reasons for this, as there you can see hands painted with the airbrush technique and signs made with fingers, present in only a few sites worldwide.

In the area known as the Mesas de Villaverde, very close to the natural site of the Gaitanes Gorge, you can visit another of Málaga's great hermitic jewels. It is the basilica commissioned by Omar Ben Hafsún in his stronghold of Bobastro, from where he challenged the powerful Umayyad dynasty. In fact, this church carved into the rock is one of the emblems of this important archaeological site. It likely began construction when Hafsún embraced Christianity, further enraging Abderramán III.

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Another site of great archaeological value is located in the municipality of Campillos. It is the Aguilillas necropolis. It is considered one of the most important funerary complexes in the province of Málaga. With more than four millennia of antiquity, as in other tombs of the time, it evokes the maternal womb. This prehistoric necropolis is located on a promontory of Miocene sandstones rising about five hundred meters above sea level.

But, in addition to these four sites and the Caminito del Rey itself, there are other gems that are part of this treasure.

On one hand, there is the set of tunnels, viaducts, and the El Chorro station. Within the Gaitanes Gorge itself, there are very valuable sites within the European railway legacy, undertaken in the second half of the 19th century to connect Málaga, then the country's second industrial city, with the interior of Andalusia.

To this, we must also add other somewhat more recent constructions, such as the walkways of the Caminito del Rey and the hydroelectric jump and the dams of El Chorro and Gaitanejo.

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