Isla del Fraile in Aguilas

This rocky island was a Roman production point for Garum fish sauce

One of the most characteristic views of Águilas is out across the bay of “El Hornillo”, to the Isla del Fraile, a small rocky island covering a total area of 6.3 hectares, which lies just off the eastern coastline of the main urban town.

The island can only be reached by swimming or the use of a small boat, although great care should be exercised if attempting to swim to the island as there are quite strong currents around the island itself, and it can be dangerous in the shallows due to the presence of sharp rocks close to the surface.

Although the waters attract snorkelers due to the presence of posidonia meadows which encourage abundant marine life, it can be dangerous in the waters around the island due to the fact that the rocks drop away quickly on the south-eastern side and reach a depth of 32 metres.

As a result, there have been fatalities in recent years.

The island lies just off Punta Cambrón and at one point would have been linked to the coast itself, however, the narrow canal of water separating it from terra firma and the sharp escarpment on the south-easterly face were enough to give its earliest inhabitants a level of natural protection.

The ruins which can be seen on the island today date back to the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, but its true importance relates its use as a production point for salt fish sauces, highly prized by first the Phoenicians and then the Romans.

Isla del Fraile in Aguilas

Águilas and Mazarrón were both production points for garum, a potent salt fish sauce popular in Mediterranean cuisine and produced via a process of macerating, reducing and fermenting small fish into a strong sauce which was packed into small amphorae and then transported by boat along the coastline.

There is a very similar production point on the Cabezo del Castellar in Mazarrón which was first exploited by the Phoenicians around 700 BC before the Roman invasion in 209 BC.

In both cases the islands are littered with shards of pottery from broken amphorae and there are still remains of the stone sinks in which the saltfish was macerated. Artifacts recovered from excavations on the island can be viewed in the municipal archaeological museum.

To read more about the production of garum sauce, and other salt fish products produced in the region, click Garum.

Other remains on the island include an area in which esparto grass was soaked as part of the process to soften the grass prior to use as well as several structures relating to the mining history of the municipality. There are also remains of Mediaeval walls relating to the Muslim period of occupation.

The island was mapped for the first time in 1782.

For further information visit the Águilas town page.

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