Costa Tropical Blog

Did you know that Motril was at one time the sugar capital of the world and that today the only pre-industrial sugar museum in Europe is here in Motril? Opened in October 2004 the Museo Preindustrial de la Caña de Azucar is built on the site of the remains of the La Palma sugar refinery house discovered in 1990 during excavation work at the rear of the Casa de la Palma building. The museum documents the history of sugar refinery spanning some 10,000 years. Indeed the earliest reference to sugar production in the Motril area is 10^th century, however it wasn’t until the 16^th-18^th centuries that production boomed.

The La Palma Sugar House dates from the 1540s to around 1787 and the sugar production process remained virtually unchanged for 200 hundred years. Mass production of sugar began in the 1570s. Each sugar house (there were 11 in the Motril area at its peak) employed 200-300 people for processing and up to 500 people for sugar cane harvesting. Sugar from Motril was shipped worldwide from Almuñecar and Malaga, making Motril the sugar capital of the world. In 1654 the La Palma Sugar House alone was producing the equivalent of 822 tons of sugar.

Sugar refining was big business and there were strict rules of access to the precious sugar cane plantations. Anyone caught trespassing, even if not cutting the sugar cane, would be imprisoned and fined. Those who could not afford to pay were beaten on the back with a cane.

By 1657 the commercial value of the sugar trade was such that the town of Motril was able to buy the title of city and therefore have its own mayor and town council independent of Granada. The wealth generated by the sugar trade also attracted pirates between the 15^th-18^th century so watch towers and fortifications were built along the coast, one known as Torre de la Vela still survives today.

However, all this wealth and prosperity came at a price. The sugar refineries needed wood to fuel their furnaces but this led to mass deforestation. A single sugar house consumed 300 cart loads of wood in a season. This mass deforestation had a substantial impact on the local environment, destroying some 20 million square metres of forest land, transforming the landscape, the effects of which are still in evidence today.

The cutting down of the trees also meant increased flooding to the low lying plantations and it was this, and the lack of sustainable wood fuel, that led to the decline in the pre-industrial sugar industry. By 1673 only 3 of the original 11 refineries were left. It was not until the mid 19^th century that steam driven machines returned Motril to its position as the sugar capital. Evidence of these 19^th century sugar refineries can be seen in the shape of the brick chimney stacks.

To find out more, or if you simply want something to do when the weather is not so good, I recommend The Museo Preindustrial de la Caña de Azucar. It is behind the La Palma UNED College opposite the Dani supermarket. The museum is wheelchair friendly and has an information centre with literature in English, German, French and Spanish. The helpful staff speak English and can give guided tours. There is a full working reproduction of a water powered twin roller sugar house refinery, original artifacts and other static exhibits. The Museum is open Tue-Sun 10am to 1.30pm and 5pm to 8.30pm, entrance €2. Tel: 958 822 206 or online at www.motril.es/museodelazucar.htm (English, German, French & Spanish).

Playa Granada beach area and the Los Moriscos golf course are most certainly two of Motril´s most important assets for future tourism. The Mayor of Motril has recently been to the FITUR tourism show in Madrid talking up Motril´s potential as an area of interest to the Spanish and foreigners alike. Motril Tourist Office have reported that, in the first two months of 2007, the number of tourists visiting the office has doubled to 5,200. This really isn´t surprising when you consider that the tourist office relocated in April 2006 and that you should have received a medal if you had managed to locate the old one tucked away in the backstreets of the town. It should also be noted that 9 out of 10 people who visited the tourist office were Spanish.

During the summer months the population on the Costa Tropical area doubles or triples with the flood of tourists visiting the area who are mainly Spanish. We don´t need more tourists in the summer months, what we need is tourists between October and May annually.

Let´s set a scenario here … you have a two bedroom apartment you wish to rent out, it´s newly built, has all mod cons, a large communal swimming pool and only a 2 minute walk from the Los Moriscos golf club and Playa Granada beach. You have everything you think you need for a property with good all year round rental potential … except there is one fatal flaw, no tourists between October and May. Your communal swimming pool is only open between mid-June to mid-September, the golf course is unable to take bookings further than a two day period in advance (website currently only in Spanish), there are no shops open in the area to walk to (the building opposite the golf club entrance was put up 2 years ago and is meant to have small shops, where are they?), you need a car to get out and about although there is a bus service. The Los Moriscos golf course put up its prices in August 2006 when it became 18 holes and it is now as expensive to play a round of golf there as it is on the Costa del Sol. These huge communal swimming pools are fenced off for 9 months of the year but are kept in fully functioning order all year round. Regulations require life guards to be on duty during pool opening periods, for larger pools this might mean 2 lifeguards have to be in attendance and perhaps while only a handful of people are using it.

The problem is that the majority of owners in the Playa Granada beach/golf area are Spanish and only visit their properties over the summer months. They are simply not interested to pay for the pool to be opened all year round when they are not in residence and for the benefit of a few people who wish to rent their properties throughout the year. Only a half hour drive westwards on the coast and you will find rental properties with pools open all year round and with shops and bars in walking distance.

So …there is a good possibility that the new ´pueblo´ that will house 20,000 inhabitants on Playa Granada beach will actually be a ghost town every year between October and May. Has the Mayor really been fully briefed on Motril´s tourist potential and its current shortcomings?