Man Not In Alora. Four Lakes and a Bit of Tripe
If you go down to the roundabout with the Moorish arch on it (The nostalgic Brits call it 'Marble Arch') and carry on up the road you will eventually come to El Chorro. There is a small village on the other side of the dam. In 2005 the population was 78 but I suspect that the figure is higher now due to its popularity with British settlers. It is part of Álora municipality and you can get there twice a day on the M340 bus. I'm not sure if you can get back. We tend to go by car. There is a railway station there, a hotel, La Garganta, a campsite, a church, a bar , a hydro-electric plant and a lake which we thought, for a time, was 'the lakes' which we had read about in the Rough Guide to Andalucía.
The El Chorro Dam with the railway station and La Garganta behind
We still tend to use 'El Chorro' to mean 'The Lakes' although the three much bigger lakes or embalses or pantanos(reservoirs) that you can see from the plane as it approaches Malaga airport.are actually part of Ardales, Teba, Campillos and Antequera and are a few kilometres from El Chorro. To get to them you drive past the dam towards the spectacular limestone gorge el Desfiladero de los Gaitanes or La Garganta del Chorro as it is also called. No matter how many times I've passed this way I always stop to look up the lake at the gorge and the Caminito del Rey that clings to the cliff.
El Desfiladero de los Gaitanes
The Caminito del Rey (The king's little path) was built in 1904 for the workers building the hydroelectric plant to be able to cross between the two waterfalls, El Chorro and El Gaitanejo without having to climb down the mountain and back up again. Alfonso X111 paid a visit there in 1921 to inaugurate the newly built El Chorro reservoir. There is a stone 'seat' by the lake to commemorate the event. The engineer, Rafael Bejumea was made a count by the king for his work and in 1953 the lake was renamed El Conde de Guadalhorce (the count of Guadalhorce). They say that the king walked on the caminito named after him but I doubt it.
The Caminito del Rey is visited regularly by adventurous and foolhardy people. It has always been a favourite with the suicidal.
These days it is in a very bad state and from time to time the Alora authorities announce that restoration will start. There is a big chunk of it missing at its start, just by the railway tunnel which people tell me was removed by the council to avoid the costly recovery of mangled corpses. However, I know that the path there was actually destroyed by Messerschmitt bombers near the end of 'Von Ryan's Express' (1965) starring Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard.
The Camino del Rey being bombed. (before).
And after
Von Ryan's Express was mostly filmed in Italy but for the last scenes Frank Sinatra came to El Chorro and stayed at the Pez Espada Hotel in Torremolinos. Whilst staying there Frankie was arrested after breaking a photographer's camera. Apparently an aspiring Cuban actress told the press that she was Frankie's lover to gain publicity. Mr. Sinatra was fined 2,500 pesetas and rushed to the airport, but not before spitting on the floor in front of a photo of Generalisimo Francisco Franco.
The bar in the Hotel Pez Espada where the incident took place is now called 'Frankie's Cafe'.
This film is now very popular
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmDhRvvs5Xw
This is good too
http://www.adventureworldwide.net/stories/en-el-vientre-de-la-bestia
The Conde de Guadalhorce, the Guadalteba and the Guadalhorce reservoirs supply Málaga and much of the Costa Del Sol with water. There's no public transport to The Lakes.
El Conde de Guadalhorce (built1921)
If you manage to get there you can swim, fish, paddle a canoe or even pedal a pedalo on the Conde de Guadalhorce and there are bars and restaurants which fill up at weekends. It's a popular spot. Maureen broke her leg going down to the lake for a swim, so watch your step. Have a coffee in the Posada del Conde instead. The camarero is called Juan. He thinks Álora people are brutos (rough, stupid, ignorant or uncouth).
We take Tommy for long walks near the El Mirador bar/restaurant. You can walk for miles without meeting anybody else. In February you can see these little wild daffodils which I think are called Hoop Petticoat Daffodils or Campanillas Chicas and in March, Bee Orchids.
Campanillas Chicas
El Mirador is mostly an open air restaurant and gets mixed reviews from people I know who have been. The chips are always OK. We went once in the winter and had to fight for a table inside near the open fire. I had Migas which means 'breadcrumbs'. I was a bit put out when that was exactly what it was. I've never ordered it again anywhere. It seems to be on every menu and lurks there to trap an innocent adventurer; quite the opposite of Callos which means 'tripe' but is full of stuff like chorizo, morcilla, pigs' feet, tripe and chick peas (garbanzos). A porky delight. Don't order it in Bilbao though. It really is only tripe. (unless you are really fond of tripe).
01/01/2012
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