Cantueso Blog – Periana, Malaga, Spain

 A much asked question from visitors to Spain is what about medical care if I need it? The good news is that medical services in Spain are usually very good and in Periana there is a clinic which will treat visitors during the week if they have a “European Health Insurance card.” A little further away is a clinic in the village of Viñuela which is open 24 hours seven days each week. It also will see card holders free of charge and you will get the same treatment as locals. In general medicines are cheaper than in the UK and many common types are available without prescription from a pharmacy. If they are prescribed following a visit to a doctor you will be charged up to 40% of the cost. Dental treatment is not generally available through the state system.

 European Health Insurance Card

The EHIC is available free of charge from the NHS website and is valid for five years. As it is just that long since they replaced the old E111 many of you may have one that needs replacing. When going on line to the NHS site make sure it is not one of the many sites which offer an express service for a fee. They are not official sites.

 Whilst the Ehic is your first line of cover you should not forget to take out travel insurance which will offer much more help when serious accidents occur. If for example you need repatriation or have to go to a private hospital which will not accept the Ehic.

Please see also our website for more information regarding travelling around Axarquia.

The Ruis family from Utrecht in Holland returned last week to collect their prize of a free Lunch having been placed first in the 2008 competition. The competition was held during the year and any photo taken in or around Cantueso was eligible for entry.  It was very nice to see them again and to meet their latest arrival, Ike. All the original entries can still be seen here.

Imagine the scene, a Thomas the Tank Engine locomotive and rolling stock that would have looked at home in an American western, rolling through the hills of Periana surrounded by billowing white clouds of steam.  In the last century this was a common sight as there was a narrow gauge railway linking Vélez Málaga, Periana and Ventas de Zafarraya.  It surprises visitors to Cantueso that the unmade road as you approach the complex is in fact the old railway track.

In about 1905 just after Málaga had installed electric trams and the need for more sophisticated transport increased, The Suburban Railway Company was set up, funded with 4 million Pesetas from the Bank of Antwerp in Belgium.  The company received various concessions to build and run lines from Málaga and along the coast.  The grand scheme envisaged a network linking Málaga with cities such as Granada, Seville, Almeria and Gibraltar.  The line from Málaga to Vélez was routed close to the sea and is said to have been a wonderfully scenic journey which, after Almayate, continued through agricultural scenery dominated by sugar cane.  Like the railway we have sadly lost the sugar cane plantations, more of which we will write in a future blog.

The Vélez to Periana line was started in 1911 and opened in 1914 less than two months before the outbreak of the First World War.  Work was halted and the line was only completed in 1921.  The line which was 31 km long had a planned extension from Zafarraya to Alhama but due to the poor economic climate was never built.

The route particularly the stretch from Periana to Ventas de Zafarraya had some serious inclines and Swiss engineers were involved in the design of a rack system to enable the trains to climb to 1000m above sea level.  This part of the route was truly alpine, often encountering seriously bad weather, and it is a tribute to those early engineers that the route never in forty years of service encountered any serious accidents.  At its peak over 500 people were employed on the railway and there were stations at Vélez Málaga, Periana, Ventas de Zafarraya with halts at Trapiche, La Viñuela and Matanza.

The demise of this railway and many others like it has been put down to several factors, both economic and social.  After the civil war (1936-1939) and the Second World War, the railway was in much demand carrying loads of sugar cane and other crops to and from the coast, but slowly the introduction of cars and buses lead to a loss of passengers and freight.  Then came the increase in tourism, with a concomitant migration of people from the villages to the coast, and the need to fund many projects along the Costa del Sol, led to a lack of capital spending on the railway.  Eventually what should have been a franchise until 2015, was wound up by Royal Decree in 1959.  The railway closed the next year and the tracks were removed.  After less than fifty years, a form of transport that had replaced the mule trains of old was itself displaced by “progress.”  As fuel costs make travel ever more expensive one can only imagine what could now be made of a scenic railway passing through some of the most attractive landscapes in Spain.

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From almost any part of Periana and the surrounding hills you look down on the spectacular scene of Lake Viñuela a man-made reservoir containing 170 million cubic meters of water and covering 700 hectares of land.  Obviously the content varies with rainfall and since the very low levels of 2009 the reservoir has built up much better reserves.  An interesting graph of current and past levels can be seen here.

The reservoir was originally muted in the 19th century but only became a viable scheme in the 1980′s and was achieved by damming the River Guaro.  This river and its many tributaries fill the reservoir and it provides potable water and irrigation for many hectares of arable land around the lake.  Fortunately before the flooding of the valley, excavations of various Neolithic and old Roman sites were undertaken and many of the artefacts found can be seen in Málaga museum.

The lake takes its name from the nearby village of La Viñuela which overlooks the valley.  It was originally a sleepy hamlet on one of the many routes up from the coast heading towards Granada, and provided a watering stop for the thirsty muleteers.  The old bar is still open and nowadays serves local workers and tourists.

A very pleasant trip can be made driving around the lake, noting as you go the eagles that soar above the lake and the many small birds along the shore.  There are many interesting detours and refreshment stops to be made at the villages en route.  These include: Canillas de Aceituno, Alcaucin, Periana, Riogordo, Comares, and Benamorgosa.  At the Southern end of the lake there is a very attractive picnic spot with tables and barbecues for public use.  A similar picnic area is also to be found below Periana where the River Guaro enters the lake.

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On one of those days with a few hours to spare you might consider visiting the old Moorish sulphur baths at Baños de Vilo (Baths of Vilo) which are about three kilometres outside Periana.

The baths are sometimes described as Arab, Moorish or Roman and no-one knows for sure how old they are.  Certainly they were in use during the latter half of the 18th century and fulfilled the Koranic obligations for Muslims which obliges them to wash before prayer. I n the 18th and 19th centuries visitors were the nobility and high society from all over Spain.

The medicinal properties of the spring water also attracted many people with skin problems and the brave can still bathe in the water which is a constant 21 degrees centigrade all year round.  This temperature is about four degrees above the average for the area and means the baths can be classified as thermal.  The underground supply constantly refreshes the pool and its sulphurous smell can be observed from quite a distance.  Recent studies have shown the waters to contain: sulphites, chloride, calcium, sodium and magnesium and has a flow rate of .3l/sec.

The baths and associated buildings fell into disrepair in the last century and it was only after the purchase of the property by the Periana Council, about twenty years ago that repairs were undertaken.

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