All of us at Cantueso are animal lovers and as long as your pets are well behaved we can allow them in our cottages and on the restaurant terrace. We would invite you to look at these well behaved dogs who have the best of table manners.
In case you are now feeling hungry look at our complete menu here.
You can see a graph of the lake levels here. and then select La Vinuela from the drop down box. The line going almost vertically is the current level and is a good indication of the speed with which the water levels rose. Another interesting weather source is one we have mentioned before run by local man Harry Happe. His site www.malagaweather.com is one of only two in Spain that does manual forecasting rather than computer predictions. His site is a mine of weather information and even has links to a tracking chart that shows live flight arrivals to Malaga airport. And when you get bored with aeroplanes you can also see a similar chart tracking ship movements along the coast.
Final note for those of you, who like me work in “old money”, where the Spanish sites predict rainfall in litres per square meter this equals 1 millimetre. Therefore 25 l per sq/m = 1 inch.
All photos by kind permission of the Periana blog http://www.perianaypedanias.com/
Never shy to extol the virtues of Restaurante Cantueso and the view we have just secured a premier advertising site at our local garage near lake Vinuela. It is the only petrol station for miles around so we know that it will be seen by lots of people as they leave, and we just hope they keep driving up to Periana to see us.
Another special day is coming up in Periana with lots of festivities as the village comes out in force to celebrate this special crop for which the village is justifiably famous. The day will see competitions and entertainments all day in the main streets and continues well into the night.
The most important competition is the Concurso Gastronómico when anyone can enter a special dish in which the main ingredient is Peaches. It is always strongly contested and there are three prizes of 100€, 200€ and 300€.
Last year more than 5000 people came to the village and this year is bound to be just as lively. A stroll around the streets filled with the scent of peaches is bound to get your taste buds moving and suitable food and refreshment stalls will be available.
A little Peach History: It is thought that a resident brought the first seedling to Periana after a visit to Argentina 200 years ago and it thrived in the wonderful climate and fertile land. As the crop developed it was taken to neighbouring villages on the backs of donkeys and eventually became popular with buyers from Murcia and surrounding provinces. However it was not until the last half of the 20th century that the crop came to prominence being appreciated for its taste, aromatic scent, soft velvet skin, colour and culinary versatility and by the 70’s a good year would yield as much as 4 million kilos.
Sadly as so often happens in agriculture, the crops were affected by pests and several years of drought which led to a steady decline in production. This continued until about ten years ago when market demand encouraged growers to plant more trees and the municipality started to promote peaches once again. Hence this year is the ninth in which the village and visitors will get to party the night away.
If you have time come up and visit us at Restaurante Cantueso where Carmen our chef is sure to produce some very tempting dishes, and whatever you do, don’t forget to buy a box of these special fruits to take home before you leave.
The route particularly the stretch from Periana to Ventas de Zafarraya had some serious inclines and Swiss engineers were involved in the design of a rack system to enable the trains to climb to 1000m above sea level. This part of the route was truly alpine, often encountering seriously bad weather, and it is a tribute to those early engineers that the route never in forty years of service encountered any serious accidents. At its peak over 500 people were employed on the railway and there were stations at Vélez Málaga, Periana, Ventas de Zafarraya with halts at Trapiche, La Viñuela and Matanza.
Full Speed on the Flat Sections
The demise of this railway and many others like it has been put down to several factors, both economic and social. After the civil war (1936-1939) and the Second World War, the railway was in much demand carrying loads of sugar cane and other crops to and from the coast, but slowly the introduction of cars and buses lead to a loss of passengers and freight. Then came the increase in tourism, with a concomitant migration of people from the villages to the coast, and the need to fund many projects along the Costa del Sol, led to a lack of capital spending on the railway. Eventually what should have been a franchise until 2015, was wound up by Royal Decree in 1959. The railway closed the next year and the tracks were removed. After less than fifty years, a form of transport that had replaced the mule trains of old was itself displaced by “progress.” As fuel costs make travel ever more expensive one can only imagine what could now be made of a scenic railway passing through some of the most attractive landscapes in Spain.
Livestock, Passengers and Goods all in a day's work
As mentioned above, the old track is now the access road to Cantueso Cottages and Restaurante Cantueso. As you leave Periana and turn right onto the unmade road, the building with a yellow wall on the left is the old station. It is now used occasionally in summer as a boarding school. In the other direction the track also provides a spectacular walk from Periana to Ventas de Zafarraya, a walk of some 11 miles.
Just before you turn into the drive at Cantueso the old railway track carries on and after a mile comes out onto the Periana-Puente don Manuel road just below the Perimetal factory. Not to be driven in winter after heavy rain!
At Cantueso we have a guide available for the Ventas de Zafarraya walk with maps directions and photos.
The lake is well stocked with fish (Carp, Trout and Bass) and sailing is allowed but only with non-motorised craft. Fishing licences are required and need to be obtained in Málaga with lots of bureaucratic hoops to jump through and not really practical for short visits. Some people say you need to take an examination before being granted a licence but the Costa del Sol tourist office says otherwise.
The department for more information is:
Provincial Delegation of Agriculture and Fishing in Málaga.
Avenida Aurora, 47
29002 Málaga
Tlf: +34 951 038 200
Email: dpmalaga.ctcd@juntadeandalucia.es
www.juntadeandalucia.es
The following site gives more details on fishing in the lake but you are advised to check the latest situation with the office above.
For further information regarding the villages that surround Cantueso please see the “Things to do” section of our website. You can also check the current view on the live webcam at Restaurante Cantueso.
That's better, and let me say straight away our favourite weather site is Meteo Malaga. It is run by a German fellow called Harry Happe who has a weather station situated high above the Eastern end of Lake Vinuela. The site is special for many reasons not least of which is the accuracy of forecasts. Harry claims to be the only site in Southern Spain, with the exception of a USAF base, that does manual forecasts. The others are computer generated. The site has received almost two and a half million visitors since 2003.
At first sight Meteo Malaga might seem overwhelming as it provides so much content. Want to know what the geomagnetic field is doing; check the bushfire index; want to see what shipping is passing along the coastline, just log on and you can see it all and much besides. It will even show you the name of the ship and where bound. Not too sure what this has to do with weather but it is great fun.
More serious stuff is there too and the three day forecast is the most useful to most of us. Harry told me recently that due to the various climatic influences in our little corner of the world it is virtually impossible to do accurate forecasts for more than three days. Other sites which we give below will offer up to fifteen day forecasts!
Another offering from this site is a “severe weather warning” and it can be sent to you via e-mail. It is free to register. Weather statistics and even a graph showing the water levels of the lake can be accessed and last but not least, Harry has a webcam looking westward down the lake and just below this picture is one from Cantueso's own webcam. Ours looks South and it is interesting to see the difference the angle and direction of the sun can make to the two pictures.
On our website we also have seasonal data for rainfall and temperatures.
So what can you expect in Periana in Spring?
A wondeful time to be in Andalusia. Highs of between 18 to 22C, and lows of 11 to 15C. Spring flowers in the hills and perfect temperatures for walking, birdwatching and of course photography.
...and in Summer
You can normally sunbathe and swim almost every day from June to September. Virtually no rain and daily highs of about 35C and nightly lows of 15C.
….and in Winter
Mixture of beautiful clear, sunny days, with some overcast but warm days. Evenings noticeably cooler. Starts to rain late September or early October, and can be heavy but rarely lasts more than a day or two. Daily highs about 20C and nightly lows around 10C. A pullover needed in the day and a jacket at night.
Other weather sites include the following which can be helpful if you need regional forecasts when driving through Spain for example Canalmeteo or Meteored.
Below is an interesting chart showing how the weather is in a typical year. This is for 2009 as later statistics are incomplete. You can see the original and other years her