Coín, chosen by the BBC as the setting for the humungously unsuccessful soap ‘Eldorado’, is situated in the fertile Rio Grande valley and has been in existence since Roman times, if not longer.
The Romans called it Lacibis and it became a market town and a transition point for minerals quarried to the south in the Sierra Blanca. Marble from these quarries was used in the construction of the Roman town of Italica, which once stood close to Seville, and the town was the birthplace, in 76AD, of the future emperor, Hadrian. The quarrying of marble and the mining of iron ore went on well into the 19th Century.
During the time of the Visigoths, who followed the Romans as rulers of the Iberian peninsula, the town appears to have been pretty much deserted and left to fall into ruin. The Moors resettled and rebuilt it around 929AD and virtually all of its Roman heritage was lost.
1485 saw the Christian reconquest and Coín was taken after a siege in which, according to legend, Christopher Columbus took part. Captain S. E. Cook of the Royal Navy visited Coín, along with Cártama and Alhaurín in 1829, and was impressed enough to write:
These villages are on rising ground above the river and in beauty of situation and cultivation cannot be excelled. They afford a specimen of the whole country when possessed by the Moors, being surrounded by gardens with orange, lemon and palm trees and abounding in all the fine as well as the more common fruits.
The orange tree is on Coín’s coat of arms.
Statistics
Area: square kilometres
Altitude: mtrs above sea level
Population: +/-
Distance from Nerja: 90 km
Driving Time: +/- 1 hour 25 mins
Location
Places of Interest
Local Cuisine
Local Festivals
Useful Info
Town Hall
Tel: 95 245 3020
Tel: 95 245 3256
Cultural Centre
Tel: 95 245 3377
Coin Television
Tel: 95 245 3577
Coín Radio
Tel: 95 245 3322
Local Police
Tel: 95 245 3267
Guardia Civil
Tel: 95 245 0138
Tel: 95 245 0188
Fire Brigade
Tel: 95 245 0337
Red Cross
Tel: 95 245 3177
Civil Protection
Tel: 95 245 1547
Health Centre
Tel: 95 245 2767
Health Centre – Emergencies
Tel: 95 245 3003
Property Registry
Tel: 952450345
Post Office
Tel: 95 245 1185
Taxi Rank
Tel: 95 245 3587
Bus Station
Tel: 902143144
Sevillana
Tel: 95 245 0384