1- JEREZ GATE
As the romantic traveler Richard Ford stated, “Tarifa is the most Moorish town of Andalusia”. The medieval walls still are the limits of the city center, structured by narrow streets typical of islamic urban planning where you can visit the churches of San Mateo and San Francisco and interesting buildings, many of them from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Text: Alejandro Pérez-Malumbres Landa
Translation: Juan Glez. Fleta
Image: General map of the route
2-OLD DECIMAL CILLA
A “cilla” was a granary where the Church stored the tithes of cereal it received. Its structure consists of three large naves separated by brick arches and covered with barrel vaults. Nowadays, it serves as a restaurant. “Silos” and “Cilla” name two streets, but cereal customs is also related to the name of another street, Calle Peso.
Text: Alejandro Pérez-Malumbres Landa
Translation: Juan Glez. Fleta
Image:
-Interior
3-WELL
This beautiful well, with a domed whose opening is now sealed, used to be public. However, there were many more private wells, still preserved inside the houses of Tarifa and sometimes shared between two houses so they were located in the wall between them. They were supplied with rainwater collected in cisterns and springs.
The well gives its name to this beautiful, secluded and rarely frequented street that runs inside the enclosure, being one of the few open spaces remaining from the original patrol path that allowed troops to move easily.
Text: Alejandro Pérez-Malumbres Landa
Translation: Juan Glez. Fleta
Image:
-Well dome.
-Perspective of the street.
4- PENSIONERS CENTRE
Originally, it was a girls’ school built around 1927 by the Cadiz architect José Romero Barrero. It mimics a mosque, with horseshoe arches and stepped battlements, featuring a dome that was once crowned by a “yamur”, decreasing-sized spheres resembling minaret elements.
Across the street, we find another interesting building known as the Casa del Mar, with its curved and bold shapes. This structure was designed by the Tarifa architect Pablo García Villanueva between 1975 and 1977 for the Social Institute of the Navy. Due to its quality, it is included in the General Catalog of Andalusian Historical Heritage.
Text: Alejandro Pérez-Malumbres Landa
Translation: Juan Glez. Fleta
Image:
-Former girls’ school
-Plan of Casa del Mar ( )
5- Casino and Lyceum
The headquarters of this traditional yet active local institution, founded in 1870, was completed in 1875. It boasts rooms with beautiful tile baseboards and an interesting library. The entire upper floor is occupied by the Liceo Tarifeño, a small and charming performance space, featuring a patio for outdoor seating, box seats on wooden pillars, and a spacious stage. It was the center of cultural life in Tarifa for years and is still used on occasion.
Texto: Alejandro Pérez-Malumbres Landa
Translation: Juan Glez. Fleta
Image:
-Room with tiles
-Library.
-Photo with a musical performance at Liceo.
6-ROYAL PRISON
SHARE TEXT WITH Nº 16 OF THE WALL ROUTE
Location: On the same support as the Royal Prison on the Walls Route.
7- FOUNTAIN OF MESON
The Fountain of Meson, dating back to 1831, was the first public water supply in the city of Tarifa,sourced from La Hedionda spring. Its shape has earned it the popular nickname, the Ace of Cups. It is done by Antonio González Salmón, the same engineer who fortified much of the island of Tarifa.
Text: Alejandro Pérez-Malumbres Landa
Translation: Juan Glez. Fleta
8-MUNICIPAL LIBRARY
A beautiful Neo-Mudejar building with horseshoe arches, intersecting blind brick arches, battlements and a slender octagonal tower. Built as the Miguel de Cervantes school for boys around 1927, during Primo de Rivera´s dictatorship, it later became a flamenco club and now houses the municipal library and archives.
Text: Alejandro Pérez-Malumbres Landa
Translation: Juan Glez. Fleta
Image: Blind brick arcades
9-TOWN HALL
This building, with its rear overlooking the harbor, has served various purposes over time. It was initially a Franciscan hospice from 1714 to 1835, and then it became a convent. The rooftop terrace was used as a semaphore station, and the tower houses a clock that was previously in the bell tower of San Mateo. Since 1884, it has been the Town Hall. Despite undergoing numerous renovations, the original layout around a courtyard with a cistern largely persists.
Text: Alejandro Pérez-Malumbres Landa
Translation: Juan Glez. Fleta
Image:
-Courtyard,
-Clock in the tower
10-OLD GRAIN STOREHOUSE
Grain storehouses, known as “pósitos,” were managed by local governments and played a role in lending grain to farmers, regulating flour prices in times of scarcity, and monitoring the quality of bread. This one was built in the 18th century on the site of an earlier granary. It has an elongated floor plan and a sturdy structure with pillars and groin vaults on the ground floor.
Text: Alejandro Pérez-Malumbres Landa
Translation: Juan Glez. Fleta
Image: Interior vaults of the granary
11-CENTRAL MARKET
It occupies the site where the Convent of the Santísima Trinidad stood until 1771. It was later used as a barracks, school, and market from 1835. The current building, inaugurated in 1928 and designed by the Cadiz architect José Moreno Barrero, features neo-Mudejar elements such as horseshoe arches on the facade and a spacious courtyard with octagonal pillars, reminiscent of the architecture prevalent in the Spanish protectorate of Morocco at that time.
Text: Alejandro Pérez-Malumbres Landa
Translation: Juan Glez. Fleta
Image:
Main door with horseshoe arch
-Old photo of the courtyard (Lotys)
12-ALAMEDA THEATER CINEMA
It has undergone several transformations, as three buildings have succeeded each other in the same location attached to the wall. Starting from the original one built in wood in the late 19th century, the so-called Salón Medina of 1921 or the current building dates back to 2011. The actor and director, Tomás Picó Hormeño, led the Municipal Theater between 1995 and 2005. The theater hosts Tarifa’s main cultural events, such as the African Film Festival or the Carnival, which have deep roots in the town as well as throughout the province of Cádiz.
Text: Alejandro Pérez-Malumbres Landa
Translation: Juan Glez. Fleta
Image: Old Salón Medina
