A few miles from the city of Malaga we find a charming municipality with over 5 miles of coastline and an excellent tourist offer: the Rincon de la Victoria. But in addition to these attractions, the locality houses another wonder underground: a cave that, according to legend and the testimony of various researchers, contains a treasure inside. Will you be the one who finds it?
Ghosts and a medieval treasure
For centuries, the Cueva del Tesoro (Treasure Cave) has haunted travellers and explorers. All this time nobody has managed to find the treasure, but they all have been fascinated with this beauty pierced by the Mediterranean, the only cave of marine origin that you can visit in Europe.
The existence of the cave is recorded from prehistoric times, when this area was all sea. There are remains of the Upper Paleolithic, of the Bronze Age, cave paintings, vestiges of the cult of a Phoenician goddess. Also, there are various Roman testimonies that describe this cave as a refuge of the famous General Crassus. But it is in the twelfth century when the legend of the treasure begins, since it is said that an Almoravid emir, Tesufin ibn Ali, hid here his fortune to keep it safe from Almohad troops.
Throughout the centuries, many explorers, treasure hunters and adventurers have carried out episodes that have increased the legend of the cave. From an eighteenth-century expedition group that fled in fear of witnessing strange events, to the misfortune of a Swiss researcher, Antonio de la Nari, who after 35 years of obsessive search met a tragic end here because of an explosion of dynamite. They say that his ghost wanders since then through the cave. The data on the existence of the treasure were reinforced from the second half of the twentieth century, thanks to the work of Professor Manuel Laza, who devoted years of study to the Cueva del Tesoro and came to ensure that "the best treasure is the one that is to be discovered". In the Cueva del Higueron (as it was known before the treasure chronicles enveloped it with mystery and fantasy) you can lose yourself through galleries and lakes, which will transport you to an imaginary world. A beautiful creation of nature that reaches about 4,921 feet of caves, less than a mile from the coastline, although some speleologists claim that it could reach the sea itself.
How to get to the Treasure Cave
The Cueva del Tesoro is very accessible for visitors. It is located in the urban area, on the Picasso Avenue of Rincon de la Victoria, just 20 minutes drive from Malaga by the A-7. You can visit it every day in the morning and in the afternoon. In addition, every 45 minutes there are guided tours through its interior.Now it's your turn to discover the Treasure Cave and experience its fascinating geology, its history and also its legend. It is very likely that after your visit, you will come to the conclusion that the cave itself is the real treasure.
