Bédar is an old hill town that has managed to
maintain its peace, tranquility and beauty, overlooking
a fertile valley dotted with cortijos and small farms.
For many years these characteristics have made it a popular
location for artistic - painters, actors, musicians and
intellectuales.
Bedar history goes back to the Middle Ages, when Bédar
belonged to the municipality of Vera. A mosque survives
as a reminder of the Muslim past, converted and for many
years used as an olive oil mill, and more recently into
a private residence.
Bédar's Muslim heritage can be observed in its
narrow, twisting side streets and its fertile plain ,
with traditional morisco terraces staggered around water
courses - an irrigation system that uses the water supply
to maximum advantage.
At the ende of the 16th century, the town continued to
grow its economy for another two hundred years.
In 1896 the installatoin of a 16km underground system
railway was opened, taking minerals straight to a quay
at Garrucha harbour, for onward transport. After WW1,
the European depression hit the mining sector badly, and
practically all the mines in Almería closed down
as a result.
Almeria province