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.
