3/5 Turista I. 3 years ago on Google • 141 reviews
Only
three
stars
because
it
is
only
in
Spanish.
This
is
not
a
big
deal,
but
some
of
the
best
bits
for
me
required
you
to
be
able
to
read
16th-century
documents
in
Olde
Worlde
Spanish.
With
good
English
descriptions,
4
stars.
Even
if
you
can't
read
Old
Spanish,
it's
worth
popping
in
just
to
admire
the
18th-century
gentleman's
residence.
Magnificent.
Not
what
you
expect
to
see
on
a
holiday
to
the
Costa
del
Sol.
This
is
the
"Casa
del
Aljibe"
-
formerly
the
Town
Hall
(still
some
administrative
offices
upstairs)
and
before
that
a
gracious
residence
with
foundations
dating
back
to
Moorish
times.
It
is
worth
a
visit
for
the
building
alone,
which
is
built
in
the
typical
18th
century
style
of
a
rich
gentleman's
dwelling.
You
start
with
a
large
entrance
porch,
called
a
Zaguan.
Traditionally
these
have
been
considered
part
of
the
street
rather
than
the
house,
and
so
in
the
past
beggars
or
vendors
might
set
up
there,
and
people
had
no
compunction
about
sheltering
inside
out
of
the
occasional
winter
rainstorm.
The
Zaguan
always
leads
to
a
central
patio,
here
we
have
a
beautiful
example.
In
the
centre
is
the
well
leading
to
the
"aljibe"
after
which
the
house
was
named
-
a
very
old
water
storage
tank
said
to
date
back
to
Moorish
times.
If
you
are
not
quite
sure,
Moorish
times
here
in
Andalusia
refers
to
the
period
between
711
and
1492
when
the
Muslim
Caliphs
of
Cordoba
and
Emirs
of
Granada
ruled.
Over
700
years
of
Islamic
history
-
All
around
the
patio
at
first-floor
level
is
a
beautiful
balcony,
now
glassed
in
but
originally
open
to
the
patio.
This
balcony
is
in
fact
the
corridor
giving
access
to
the
rooms
at
that
level;
a
handsome
staircase
leads
up
there.
Traditionally,
the
maids
lived
further
up
above
in
the
attics,
rooms
too
cold
in
winter
and
too
hot
in
summer
for
the
ladies
and
gentlemen
to
inhabit!
Here
the
patio
has
been
enclosed
by
an
attractive
glass
roof;
when
the
house
was
first
built,
this
was
open
to
the
sky.
The
museum
is
on
the
ground
floor
only,
with
different
rooms
for
different
periods.
There
are
loads
of
interesting
exhibits,
and
if
you
are
a
habitué
of
museums
elsewhere,
you
can
guess
what
the
objects
are.
The
first
room
is
pre-history,
Phoenicians
and
the
Roman
Conquest.
The
second
one
concentrates
on
the
Roman
period.
I
was
very
interested
in
the
two
rooms
looking
at
the
700+
years
of
Moorish
rule,
when
the
town
was
"Medina
Istibbuna",
but
the
bit
that
I
most
enjoyed
was
an
exhibition
in
the
patio
of
old
documents.
There
was
a
typed
version
of
a
series
of
documents
dating
back
to
1502.
That
first
was
written
just
ten
years
after
the
army
of
Queen
Isabel
and
King
Fernando
(yes,
that's
right:
the
ones
in
the
Sky
TV
series)
laid
siege
to
Santa
Fe
just
outside
Granada,
the
Moorish
King
capitulated,
and
it
was
the
end
of
seven
centuries
of
Moorish
rule
in
Spain.
The
Spanish
King
and
Queen
ordered
a
castle
to
be
built
on
the
ruins
of
the
Moorish
fortress
in
Estepona,
and
land
to
be
purchased
to
build
20
dwellings
around
it.
The
aim
was
clearly
to
start
a
Christian
town
around
the
castle.
And
it
was
successful,
as
in
1526
another
document
shows
that
there
were
now
25
or
26
householders
living
there.
These
houses
formed
the
first
two
streets
of
modern
Estepona;
they
are
just
down
the
road
from
this
museum,
the
Calle
Villa
and
the
Calle
Castillo
on
either
side
of
the
castle.
Another
document
describes
a
legal
dispute
between
Estepona
and
Marbella
in
1618
over
grazing
rights,
particularly
pigs
and
acorns
-
the
famous
"jamón
de
bellota"
from
acorn-fed
pigs
already
important!
But
my
favourite
was
the
document
of
1617,
when
a
wealthy
gentleman
of
Estepona
sets
out
in
a
legal
document
the
items
that
he
gave
his
wife
on
their
marriage,
to
be
her
personal
possessions.
These
were:
*
a
chest
*
a
mattress
*
4
sheets
*
a
set
of
bed
hangings
*
2
pillows
*
1
towel
Only
one
towel?
He
wasn't
expecting
her
to
go
down
to
the
beach
then!
I
think
that
you
will
enjoy
seeing
this
beautiful
house
and
looking
at
the
exhibits.
Children
will
enjoy
more
the
Paleontological
museum
with
dinosaurs
by
the
Plaza
de
Toros.
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