Bentarique Travel Guide

Bentarique is a small village of terraced houses nestled in a landscape of vines, citrus and fruit trees with semi-desert ravines. During the Muslim era, when the kingdom of Al-Andalus was conceded to the Nasrid Sultanate, Bentarique became part of the ten towns that made up the Taha of Marchena. At the end of the 15th century, a treasure of Muslim goldsmiths was found in Bentarique in 1896, and which is currently in the National Archaeological Museum of Madrid.

The name Bentaquire is believed to mean "rich sale", but for the 12th-century Muslim geographer and chronicler, Idris, there was a relationship between this place and a Roman source of hot waters with medicinal properties, called Poznilla or Posnilla Fountain.

The town stands on sedimentary materials on the left bank of the Andarax river, in front of the Sierra de Gador. Bentaquire's economic activity has always been agriculture. Since Muslim times, a network of canalizations and ditches has been created that still exists and can be appreciated. When the manorial system was abolished in the 19th century, the cultivation of the Ohanes grape was introduced and demographic and economic growth took place, whose imprint is the bourgeois constructions of the time. The boom lasted until the beginning of the 20th century, when, due to the armed conflicts, the export of grapes declined, generating the emigration of the population.

Currently, abandoned lands have been reactivated and a drip irrigation infrastructure has been established to recover traditional citrus and grape crops. Through the Experimental Farm of Alternative Crops, new varieties are being sought, such as the apirena grape, with promising results.

The typical dishes of Bentaquire are similar to those of other locations in the Alpujarra Almeriense. Among them are the peeled wheat stew, the fennel stew, the collejas omelette, the rabbit fry and the crumbs. As for desserts, the hornazos, the meringues, the sleeping bread and the must bread stand out.