Christmas Shopping at Miramar

LA CALA History

La Cala de Mijas was an agricultural and small, typically Andalusian white-washed fishing village, until the beginning of the Spanish tourist boom in the 1960s.

Historically it has been a place of defence, fortified with four towers along the coast Mediterranean coast of Andalusia, whose function was to give notice of the presence of enemy ships to the garrisons of Fuengirola, Benalmádena and Marbella. This was one of the places where the Berbers attacked. The towers are:

Torre de Calahonda (from the 16th century)

New Tower of La Cala del Moral (probably the most modern tower along the coast, 19th century)

Battery Torre La Cala del Moral (16th century)

Calaburras Tower (built around 1515 in the Punta de Calaburras)

Known previously as "La Cala del Moral" (English: the Bay of Mulberries) due to the mulberry trees growing in the area, the name was changed in the 1970s to La Cala de Mijas in order to avoid confusion with the similarly named Cala del Moral just outside Málaga. In those early tourist days, La Cala boasted some 30 fishermen's cottages, a couple of bars, an open-air summer cinema, a butcher's, grocer's, a small chapel, a school and little else.