This town is located to the south of Granada, at 860 meters of altitude, in the Puerto of Suspiro del Moro. Gate of the fertile plain of Lecrín, Dúrcal is bordered by the western slope of Sierra Nevada and limits to the south with the Guájares mountain range. Its district is part of the Sierra Nevada Natural Park and in this space they enjoy an own microclimate and places of great beauty. Here it is possible to practice trekking and adventure sports with an exceptional natural frame.

Dúrcal has one of the more beautiful landscaping sets of the region: the small valley formed by its own river when it descents from Sierra Nevada. Bridges of different times save its flow, the medicinal fountains are born in its flanks and the old mills take advantage of its waters. All framed by an immense vegetation that houses some of the most advisable restaurants and hotels of the area.

But they are its high bridges, which rise over cultivations of orange and lemon trees, those that have marked for the traveller the pass by Dúrcal, constituting one of the most characteristic stamps of the journey between Granada and the Coast. Of the four bridges that nowadays save the flow of the river, the oldest and most important one from the archaeological point of view is the Roman bridge, which was constructed with a single eye in the I century. From it the metal bridge, where several companies of active tourism offer the possibility of jumping, can be seen.

History

The origins of Dúrcal go back to the time of the Muslim domination of the Iberian Peninsula. Its condition of obligatory stop from Granada towards the coast and its fertile land attracted the Arabs. Its name comes from the Arab Quasb, word that alludes to the sugar cane cultivation, although abound in its district the orchards with orange and lemon trees. After the Reconquista carried out by the Catholic Kings the Moorish were expelled from the area, being Dúrcal the departure point for numerous families in the Africa direction escaping from the Christian pressure.

Gastronomy

In Dúrcal cereals, almonds, oranges and lemons are cultivated, and aromatic olive oil is elaborated. The greater and smaller hunting also plays an important role in the cuisine of Durcal.

Museums and monuments

- El Molino: Centennial building that houses the headquarters of the Gastronomy Andalusian Museum, specialized in the recovery of the regional gastronomy patrimony, with particular attention to the Moorish recipes

- Ermita de San Blas: It dates from the XVI century and stands out by the game of volumes that form its different bodies, with the elegant lantern that culminates the outside of its vault and the small rectangular bell tower inlaid in its facade.

- Fuerte de la Alcazaba: Located in the plain at the bottom of the Zahor hill, it is a typical farmhouse tower, known also as Tower of Márgena. It is a work of the XIV century. Due to its defensive character was destined to monitoring the ways. In some of its facades a plastering of reddish colour similar to the one of some parts of the Alhambra can be appreciated.

- Iglesia Parroquial de la Inmaculada Concepción: Solid and elegant building rose in the middle of the XVI century that was partially destroyed during the rebellion of the Moorish. Between the images that are kept in this temple calls the attention the one of San Ramon Nonato, represented with the mouth sealed by a padlock that, according to the legend, they put to the Saint in Algiers so that it stop annoying with his incessant teachings of the religion. The outside of the temple stands out by its thin brick tower and the simple facade with semi-circular arc supported on pillars.

- Medieval castle ruins: Located on a hill called “the Peñon de los Moros”, and from whose top one controls the river valley, the old road of Granada and the coast, all the neighbourhoods of Durcala and the neighbour town of Cozvíjar. Known as “castillejo”, it was an old fortress quite big of irregular polygonal plant. It only remains still a tower, which had to be the main bastion of the enclosure, and a rectangular rain tank.