by Nick Nutter

Created on: July 06, 2008   Last Updated: July 09, 2008

Estepona A typical Andalucian Fishing Town

The name Estepona is derived from the Arab name Astabbuna and was undoubtedly a settlement site during Roman times and probably earlier judging by the finds made in the last century but the first written record of a town does not occur until the 10th century. For the next few hundred years the town was fought over until 1457 when it was finally taken from the Moors and held by the Christians. They immediately set about demolishing and burning anything not destroyed in centuries of siege and fighting and then in 1458 started to build a church and castle around which the modern town of Estepona grew. By the 20th century Estepona was a village of about 9,000 farmers and fishermen and 50,000 goats and sows. Today the proportions are reversed with much of the town's revenue coming from tourism.

There is very little evidence of the mediaeval Estepona. A part of the castle wall is exposed and preserved behind the market, together with a rusty cannon that once upon a time sat on the battlements. The market itself has suffered from competition from the supermarkets in recent years but still has very good locally grown fresh vegetables and fish caught by local families. The clock tower that dominates this part of town is all that remains of the church that was completed in 1473. Outside of the town just a little way east of the Carrefour supermarket on the beach side of the road is a Roman water tank and well which, via an aqueduct, supplied water to the fertile valley to the west. The line of the aqueduct now disappears beneath a new development after a few metres. This town is no place for a historian. It is now, unashamedly, a modern town with plenty of shops, restaurants and bars busily burying its past beneath pedestrian precincts, urbanisations and hotels.

Esteponians have a lot to be proud of. The promenade that takes you from the port, right the way to the cliffs at the east end of town is, in any weather, a pleasurable walk with well laid out flower beds, water features, shade and numerous watering holes. If you take notice of the roundabouts and central reservations you will get the idea that Estepona has a thing about flowers. They are always in pristine condition with new bedding plants arriving even before the previous ones droop. The blue flag beach is kept in the same immaculate way.

A place not to be missed is the town's Museum of Palaeontology now housed in the bullring at the west end of town. Pride of place goes

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