History of Estepona
What the guides leave out.
Street names with a story. People who made the city. Episodes that guidebooks omit because they don't fit on a tourist leaflet.
Places that hide a story
Places you see without knowing what lies behind them.
17th Century
Calle Murillo
A 17th-century doctor who treated Estepona's epidemics, sailed to Málaga and ended up imprisoned in Algiers for thirteen years. This street bears his name.
Read the story1831
Pedro Manrique Seafront Promenade
Three kilometres of promenade named after a local man shot in 1831 alongside General Torrijos. He was 22 years old. Almost nobody who walks there knows this.
Read the story20th Century
Calvario Park
A statue of a woman on a Vespa. Juana Luna crossed Estepona to attend births when almost no woman drove. The first local woman to ride a motorbike.
Read the story16th Century
Coastal Watchtowers
Seven towers along the coast to warn of Barbary corsairs. The signal was a bonfire. Within minutes, the entire coastline was on alert. 16th century.
Read the story9th Century
Padrón Alto — Castillo el Nicio
At 340 metres above sea level, seven kilometres from the centre, there is a 9th-century Arab fortress. The local historian calls it the most unknown monument in the province.
Read the story1973–1976
Calle Caridad
In 1973 a wall was built at the end of the street. Residents called it 'the wall of shame'. In January 1976 it came down, to the delight of the neighbourhood.
Read the storyPeople of Estepona
The people behind the names.
Teachers, midwives, doctors, mayors and fishermen. The history of a city is the people who made it.
People of Estepona
Pedro Manrique and the promenade that bears his name
Pedro Manrique was the only documented person from Estepona among the fifty who died alongside General Torrijos in 1831, shot for defending the liberal constitution. Estepona's seafront promenade bears his name.
People of Estepona
Juana Luna, the midwife on a Vespa
Juana Luna was a midwife in Estepona when women on motorbikes were an exception. Her statue in Parque del Calvario shows her with the Vespa. A figure who captures a whole era in a single image.
People of Estepona
Doña Mencía Navarro: 33 years, 7 months and 25 days
Doña Mencía Navarro taught in Estepona for 33 years, 7 months and 25 days. The daughter of farmworkers, she copied her classmates' books by hand in order to study. The precision of the date reflects the weight of her presence.
People of Estepona
The doctor who healed Estepona and ended up in Algiers
Licenciado Murillo was a 17th-century physician who treated epidemics in Estepona and Marbella, was captured by Barbary pirates and spent 13 years imprisoned in Algiers, where he continued practising medicine through three epidemics. Calle Murillo in the old town bears his name.
People of Estepona
Four generations on Calle Caridad
From 1897, four generations of the Mena Arce family practised medicine at Calle Caridad 125, Estepona. A story of rootedness, vocation and continuity documented through to 2006.
People of Estepona
The mayor who transformed Estepona — and at what cost
Ángel Farinós was the mayor of Estepona's great urban transformation in the 1960s. The chronicle that documents his achievements also notes the mistakes. The chronicler was the deputy mayor who worked alongside him.
Episodes
Stories worth telling.
20th century
"The Paseo del Carmen is gone, where we walked so many rounds"
The 'Canto a Estepona' by Juan Usero Fernández, written from Venezuela, is one of the most moving documents of local memory: the voice of the emigrant who remembers a town that no longer exists.
Read20th century
The boat that never set sail
A farmers' cooperative was sabotaged on the day of its first launch. The boat's ropes were found cut. They kept trying. A story of collective resistance with an unknown ending.
Read16th–17th century
Seven watchtowers on permanent alert
From the 16th century, Estepona's coast was defended by a system of seven watchtowers that warned of Barbary corsair attacks. They still stand today, spread across 21 kilometres of coastline, and are one of the most singular pieces of heritage in the region.
Read1940–1980
The flamenco festival with Enrique Morente and the film week with five countries
On 12 April 1975, Estepona hosted the III Gran Festival de Cante Grande with Enrique Morente, Manuel Gerena and Parrilla de Jerez. In 1977, the I International Week of Educational Cinema brought five countries together. Two episodes that reveal a town with a cultural life of its own.
Read9th–10th century
The castle nobody knows exists
Castillo el Nicio is an Arab fortress from the 9th century, located at Padrón Alto in Estepona, at 340 metres altitude and seven kilometres from the centre. It played an active role in Omar ben Hafsum's rebellion and was definitively conquered in 923 AD. It remains one of the least-known historical sites in the province.
Read20th century
The fishing guild that voted, competed and ran the city
The Cofradía de Pescadores de Estepona, Estepona's fishing guild, was for decades far more than a trade union: it took part in council debates, organised sporting tournaments and was one of the most active civic actors in the city until tourism changed the local economic structure.
Read1973–1976
The wall the residents tore down
In 1973, the council swapped a public plot at the end of Calle Caridad for private land. The result was a wall that blocked a passage. Residents called it 'the wall of shame'. The council itself voted that the deal had been harmful. The wall fell in January 1976, to the neighbourhood's delight.
Read18th–20th century
When Estepona faced the sea
Before tourism, Estepona lived by the sea. In 1752 there were 124 fishermen. The Cofradía de Pescadores, Estepona's fishing guild, was one of the two pillars sustaining the local economy. In 1958 the Nautical Club arrived; in 1979, the marina with 613 vessels. The Paseo del Carmen was demolished to build the seafront promenade.
Read9th–17th century
Castles and towers: a coast always on watch
For centuries, Estepona had a defensive system of two castles and seven coastal towers. Castillo el Nicio, of Arab origin from the 9th century, dominated the interior from Padrón Alto. Castillo de San Luis, from the 16th century, stood in the town centre. The seven watchtowers watched over 21 kilometres of coastline. Three layers of defence on the same territory.
Read14th–20th century
The streets that hold memory
The historic centre of Estepona preserves memory in its squares, streets, houses and churches. Plaza de las Flores had at least four different names depending on the political power of each era. A 14th-century Nasrid cistern survives intact beneath Casa del Aljibe. The Church of Los Remedios stands on the site of a 1400-era forest. Calle Murillo is named after a doctor held captive in Algiers for thirteen years.
Read