ATTENTION. The Fuente del Borbollón has been closed after inspection of the Health Service of the Junta de Andalucía, so it can not be visited. We leave the review to it for informational purposes only.

Recommended month to visit it: January.

The Fuente del Borbollón [Fountain of the Gush] has this name because the water literally comes out in gushes [borbollones in Spanish]. The Fountain takes its waters from the Sierra de los Tajos and supplies them to Riogordo.

During the Neolithic, the inhabitants of the area of Alfarnajeto (where the fountain is located) left their markings in the Tajos de Gomer.

There are still some tombs of the Phoenician era at the foot of the Sierra del Rey, near the Cortijo de Auta. It was built on the plot of land of a Roman villa, where the Muslims later constructed a fortress that was later turned into a flour mill.

A lot of history with water as its backbone. It is believed that Omar Ben Hafsun was born in these lands. The humble fountain, with its mighty presence, is the origin of many things.

Coordinates

• Trail start : 384567 / 4086508
• Auta I: 384831 / 4089709
• Fountain of the Gush: 384767 / 4090461

Auta Farm (Cortijo de Auta)

Auta farm is an important site of historical interest in Afarnatejo at the upper reaches of the River De La Cueva (Cave River). It has geological and biological significance as well. In Auta Valley you can find small caves that belonged to a monastic Mozarabic community.

Nowadays, Auta farmhouse is placed on the foundation of an old Arab fortress, Auta Castle, which was built over the ruins of a Roman villa. During Christians’ period, this fortress was changed into a flour mill. Strangely, even today you can see the remains of activities in the mill.

Water used to be brought from the nearby River De La Cueva to a canyon on the edge of a massif. The river flow used to fall down off it fast enough to move the mill that was right below. The farm is at a magnificent place surrounded by immense natural beauty.

Borbollón Fountain (Fuente del Borbollón)

Further on, along the path of Alfarnate, you will come across a spacious area with a Punic necropolis, behind which the route changes its course towards the source of the River De La Cueva. This spot is known as Borbollón Fountain where you can find a system for a water supply of the neighbour Municipality of Riogordo.

Some fifteen metres away from that spot, along the pass between Auta Farm and Borbollón Fountain, there is a small rocky depression with the ruins of a necropolis with anthropomorphic sculptures, probably from the 9th or 10th century. There are round twenty tombs excavated on a small hillock. These open tombs are carved on the rock and are no more than one and a half metres deep.

Alfarnatejo borders on the Municipality of Alfarnate to the north and east, on Periana and Riogordo to the south, and on Colmenar to the west. Here we suggest following the route that goes through dense holm oak forest up to Auta Farm where this rough mountainous scenery transforms into smooth areas of fields combined with terraced gardens and orchards.