Ninety seconds on La Farola de Málaga
One of the oldest working lighthouses in Spain stands at the edge of Málaga’s harbour, and you can watch its lamp come on from the beach.
La Farola is a round tower about 37 metres tall, with a keeper’s house at its base, and it is Málaga’s only lighthouse. The Spanish word for a lighthouse, faro, is masculine. Málaga’s is la farola, one of only two lighthouses in Spain with a feminine name.
The light is electric and automatic, switched on by a photocell, with no keeper living in the house any more. It carries 21 nautical miles out to sea, about 39 kilometres.
During the Civil War the tower was painted beige so that gunners could not aim by it. Today it is white again, and it has become one of the symbols of Málaga and the Costa del Sol.
The first job is to check the day’s sunset time and set off early enough to reach the beach before it. The walk starts at the Muelle Uno end of the Paseo de la Farola and follows the promenade straight to the tower and the roundabout where it stands.
On the far side of the roundabout, cross the road to La Malagueta beach and watch the tower from the sand.
When the lamp comes on, count the signal: three flashes and then one more, repeating every 20 seconds.
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