El Casco Antiguo (The Old Part of Marbella)
Being one of the most patent birthmarks of the past you should see the Alcazaba wall. That is to say, what is most popularly known as "Castillo - The Castle". This wall held inside it the first and most primitive city of Marbella, although this did not take long in spilling over the walls, extending its arms over what is today known as the old town. The geographical limits of the Arab medina can be perfectly seen by the passer by, as all areas dominated by Arabs have the typical, extraordinarily narrow streets, twisting and winding their sinuous routes. All this in the most pure Arab style, a style that on the other hand saves us from the burning sun, allowing us to stroll along the streets without leaving the shade offered throughout the whole route through the Old Town of Marbella.

the Old Town's boundaries, which are: Towards the beach, the Avenida Ricardo Soriano, which is this stretch, changes to be called also Ramón y Cajal. This street is hard to miss as it was until the past decade, the main road through Marbella, and therefore is the busiest road traffic wise, not forgetting also the fact that the unmistakable Alameda Park is just in front of the entrances to the Old Town. In Malaga direction it joins the Avenida Nabuel, which stretches down the river bed and takes us to the Bonsai Museum, with truly unique trees to be seen, with more than 500 years history, considered to be the best Bonsai Museum in the world. Towards Cádiz, the Old Town joins the Huerta Chica Street, which is perpendicular with the Avenida Ramon y Cajal, being the only non pedestrian access to the Old Town. This is the area in which you will now be moving, the Arab windings of our streets (conserved practically intact) were substantially modified after the conquest of the Catholic Kings in the year 1.485.

The modification was based on three singular works:
• First, the whole conjunction streets and houses were demolished in order to leave a space open for what s today the Orange Square. This central square was to become the administrative center of the city, something very typical within the urbanistic planning in Castillia at those times, as they appreciated open spaces in which the citizen activities could take place. This small but grand square.
• After this the Castilians proceeded to lay new streets. These streets, lain by a system known as cordada. (cordada being string and they used to use a piece of string and follow the line it made), are to be found in the higher part of the Old Town, being for example the Calle del Peral and Calle Nueva (this last owing its name to those special new works and meaning basically new street). With these works, the philosophy of the Marbella streets changed, leaving behind the beloved municipal chaos, so appreciated by the Arabs. This collection of Castilian streets stretched up the northern boundary of the Old Town in Marbella, this being the Calle Salvador Rueda.
• The third initiative to highlight in the 16th century, the Golden Century in Marbella, is a selection of public senatorial buildings, all different and separated by just a few meters.

The most important of these buildings is the Town Hall, ordered to be built by the Catholic Kings, and which maintains today the same administrative functions. The right hand side of the façade has a series of commemorative plaques in honor of the conquering of the city, the bringing of water in 1632 and the posterior enlarging of the building in 1779. The Town Hall is a living monument to Marbella, dating back to 1568. But there are older buildings to be found such as the Chief Magistrates house, situated to the left of the Town Hall next to the Apostle Santiago's Chapel, which dates back to the year 1552. The house is unmistakable due to the archway on the upper floor. This archway, together with the stone façade that frames the door are authentic ancient Castilian works of art from the 16th century, art that has been overshadowed by the great religious monuments that continued to be created in those times. The Chief Magistrate was also the owner of the Bazan Hospital, situated in the street with the same name, where the Museum for Contemporary Spanish Engravings is now situated, being the best museum in all of Spain for Contemporary Engravings, situated on the other side of the Castle that you may visit later. On the other hand, this house dates back to the 16th Century. The front of the Town Hall and side with the Santiago Apostol Chapel is the first fountain that was ordered to be built by a Christian Mayor in Marbella. This fountain dates back to 1504. If you go out of the Orange Square (Plaza De Los Naranjos) to the extreme right, with the Town Hall in front, you will find the before mentioned castle. The whole perimeter is walled in, although today, many parts of the wall are covered by little houses that are occupied by a series of establishments dedicated to making your visit to our Old Town more pleasurable. The street that opens out along the wall will take us to the Encarnación Church, which began to be built in 1618. This great work, which is impressively big, gives us an idea of the efforts taken to build in the 17th century. This church is of the Basilica type, and it does not have an apse at the back of the alter, as it is not a pilgrims church. The layout of the naves and lunettes on the front, the renaissance style, all made it possible to preach evangelism at the same time as the masses were held and remind viewers vividly of the structures used to build temples in the New World, by the priests in the "Compania de Jesus". This is not strange however, due to the proximity of the city to the two ports which served as doors to America: Cádiz and Seville. On the façade of this great work of art you can observe a stone portal in Baroque style that was obviously added after the original project had been carried out. But you can observe Arab reminders, with lobed shapes, something that once again highlights the Andalusian people's great capacity to take the most beautiful parts of each cultural influence that even today continues to sweep through our land.

If you continue your route through this street, you will pass in front of the Encarnación Church, called "the Church of Charity" , and on the left you will encounter a true jewel within historic architecture. What you find is the Little Hospital with its most beautiful part in sight, the San Juan de Dios Chapel. The "Hospitalillo" was not only ordered to be built by the Catholic Kings, but their Highnesses were actually present at the inauguration. The structure of the Capilla de San Juan de Dios is simple, but the portal, framed by a half point archway underlines the original function for which the building was constructed. It has a carved door with details such as the city shield to the left and a carved religious image to the right. This image has a Granada at the bottom of the cross. This is a new example of the mixture of cultures. In a Christian building, ordered to be built by the Catholic Kings, you can still find proof of the fact that this land once belonged to the Kingdom of Granada. Inside the Chapel you can observe a coffer that was not discovered until the middle of this past century. The structure of the same, which is clearly Arabic, enriches this Cultural, Monumental and Commercial combination that makes up the Old Town of Marbella, leaving without effect any other comment regarding the excellence of these remains, as it is very difficult to reflect the emotion felt on walking through these streets that were used in exactly the same manner some 500 years ago by Arabs, Christians, Jews… and by all their descendants. In the same chapel, to the left you can to your astonishment see fragments of frescos. The frescos were discovered recently and although there are only fragments, it gives one an idea of the multicolored decoration that used to adorn the temples in the area. This is very unusual in the Castillia of the Conquerors and is yet another example of the mixture of styles. The rest of the Hospitalillo building is used today for cultural purposes. Exhibitions are organized and different acts take place. The whole area has been catalogued and protected. If you once again stroll to the right, along the San Juan de Dios Street, you will reach the four perpendicular streets through which you reached the Hospitalillo. Streets with names that go back the to 19th Century Campaigns in Africa that prove that Marbella, far from being a new and tourist directed city, has been an industrious city, with noble and loyal people, where all visitors during the thirty seven centuries of history have found shelter and good will among the people.