Calle de Nerja

The name travels from the Costa del Sol to the south of Madrid. Nerja points to the Málaga town of the same name, at the eastern edge of the Axarquía, where the Sierra de Almijara drops almost to the sea. The street lies in Legazpi, in an area where several roads recall towns of the south. The place-name comes from the Andalusi period, from the word Narixa, usually glossed as “abundant spring.” Water is at the root of the name. The town holds two well-known places. One is the Balcón de Europa, a lookout jutting out over the Mediterranean. The other lies underground: the Cueva de Nerja, found in 1959, holds cave paintings estimated at tens of thousands of years old, among the oldest known.