Torre Baños, old watchtower in Estepona
Torre Baños is also called Torre de Casasola is located in the Isdabe / Atalaya district of East Estepona. To be precise it is locate on the seafron just to the west of the Hotel Atalya. This is why the Hotel is named Atalaya. (Watchtower).
There are also two abandoned Cuartel de Carabineros next to the tower.
Torre Baños is of Muslim origin, it is believed to have been built in the 14th century. It has a horseshoe-shaped plan and is a slender cylindrical tower 15 metres high. Due to its slenderness, the base of the tower was later reinforced.
The Torre de Baños is considered a cylindrical tower, with a flat or chamfered north wall and a diameter of about five metres. Its height, 15 metres, caused stability problems, so a 3-metre-high conical ravelin was added at the base in 1565. The rest of the tower is built on top of this body
The tower interior is divided into two floors: a lower floor, 7 metres above the ground, where the entrance to the tower is located on the north side, and a higher floor, also on the north side, where a window opens up some 9 metres above the ground. There is also another opening on the south side. This towers rooftop protected by a uniform parapet, where the remains of the matacán that protected the access can be seen. It is built of masonry, with the stone laid in horizontal courses. Brick is limited to the openings.
It is named after the nearby Roman termal baths, although nowadays it is also known as Casa Sola, after the hamlet in which it is located. The terrain is alluvial, formed by the River Guadalmina, which in the last century surrounded it in the form of a delta.
This uninhabited area has a long historical tradition and used to be called ‘Estepona la Vieja’ (Old Estepona). Classical geographers and historians have given it various names: Avieno calls it Silbis; Palibio, Elingas; Tito Livio calls it Silpia or Silpa, and says that Asdrubal camped here.
The Seven Watchtowers of the Estepona Coastline
Main sites and things to see and do in Estepona
