Heritage and trail
A route between the village and the Cerro Milano, where popular devotion has left small whitewashed hermitages and an old marabout of Andalusi origin.
The Path
More than a single signposted route with one name, what links these places is the custom of climbing from the village up towards the slopes that overlook the Andarax valley, with the Sierra de Gádor opposite. The PR-A 359 trail, which loops around the Cerro Milano along the Barranco del Pasillo, passes close to several of these landmarks.
The path, lined with almond trees and thyme, connects the parish church of San Nicolás de Bari, in the village, with the hermitages scattered across the hillside and with the marabout that crowns the Cruz de Arriba. They are witnesses to centuries of popular devotion, from the San Marcos pilgrimages to the summer neighbourhood festivals.
The oldest of the village hermitages: it was built in 1757 on the initiative of a local couple, Manuel López Navarro and Magdalena Artés. Its dome collapsed around the 1940s and was replaced by a flat roof. San Antonio de Padua is celebrated on 13 June.
The most recent: a small glazed chapel housing the image of St John the Baptist, blessed in 2007. The festival, around 24 June, keeps the night of San Juan alive in Alhama.
It grew out of a community collection at the start of the 20th century, around the feast of St Mark the Evangelist, patron of animals. The Civil War destroyed the hermitage and the image, and in the 1950s the neighbours rebuilt it with help from the town council. It is celebrated on 25 April with the blessing of the animals.
The Andalusi Legacy
Halfway up the Cerro de la Cruz, also known as Cerro Milano, stands the marabout: the oldest hermitage-qubba in the region, dated to the 16th century. A "marabout", in Islam, refers to a deeply pious person and, by extension, the place where they lived or were buried.
The building is simple and full of light: four arches supporting a hemispherical dome, now presided over by a cross at its centre. From here the view takes in the village, the Castillejos —remains of a Muslim fortification— and the valley opening towards the desert.