Tarifa

Guess who got here first. Yup, evidence that Palaeolithic and Bronze ages visitors followed by Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians all came for their holidays before the Roman real estate developers built Julia Traducta, (named after a famous courtesan,) re-named Tarifa, (after Tarif Ibn Malluk, a Berber debt collector.) Sancho the Brave (the man with the belt in my previous Camino story from Roncevalles,) in turn grabbed it in 1292.
An interesting twist in the usual history of Andalucia is that the Infante don John, brother of King Sancho, backed the Moslem King Mohamed in his plan to recover the town. An successful assault on the castle appearing unlikely, they threatened the Governor, Alonso Pérez de Guzmán ( better known as Guzman el Bueno with the executiion of his previously kidnapped son if he did not surrender the town.
Guzman's response was: "if you do not have a dagger with which to kill him, here, take mine'. This paternal gesture earned him the title of Duque of Medina Sidonia, the right to exploit the tuna fishing in the Strait of Gibraltar, and the honour of being cast in a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.

The Tarifa "chacarrá" fandango is well-known in the world of flamenco.

It is now famous for kite surfing.It is now famous for kite surfing.Read more