Named to pay homage to Julián and Antonio, precursors of the donkey-taxi, the event, which their daughters also attended, was organised by the Town Hall

Mijas has inaugurated one of its locations with the best views of our mountains, an exclusive place on the Virgen de la Peña square, recently completely remodeled, and the gateway to all those tourists who arrive in Mijas after parking in the Virgen de la Peña car park. It is the now named, since Thursday, May 13th, ‘Mirador Hermanos Núñez Andreu’, in tribute to Julián and Antonio, who decades ago went from carrying stones with their ‘beasts’ to taking tourists for a ride and creating the figure of the donkey-taxi, a symbol of the municipality for which we are distinguished worldwide.

At the inauguration, their daughters, María Jesús and Isabel Núñez, with the mayor of Mijas, Josele González (PSOE), and the councillor for Tourism, José Carlos Martín (Cs), unveiled the plaque that recognizes the great work that this family, without being aware of it, have done for Mijas because, as María Jesús said, “it was unintentional, because my father and uncleworked with the donkeys bringing sand and bricks from the quarry and one day they took a tourist who wanted to ride the donkey for a walk and that was how they started”. María Jesús recalled with emotion the flourishing 60s in Mijas, when her father and uncle, now deceased, offered rides on their donkeys to tourists from all over the world and artists of the time, of whom, she said, she has saved the photos. “Among them, Raphael, Manolo Escobar, Cantinflas and Carmen Sevilla”, highlighted the daughter of Antonio Núñez. The mayor highlighted the importance of the name of this viewpoint “so that the people of Mijas never forget the precursors of such an important sign of identity and at the same time, we sealed a commitment by all the corporations so that we all always continue to enact and preserve the value of what the donkey-taxi means for our municipality, since it is an indisputable sign of identity”. For his part, Martín highlighted the tourist attraction that the donkey-taxi still is to this day“, so what better tribute than, after completing the remodeling of this square, to give a space as is deserved to the memory of this family with a plaque. This recognition will serve for any tourist who comes to our municipality and passes through this viewpoint, to take home a souvenir of the family that has contributed so much to Mijas”.

Approved in plenary session

The new name of this viewpoint was approved in the ordinary plenary session in March. Then, the entire corporation voted in favour of changing the name; It went from being called ‘Mirador Julián Núñez Andreu’ to ‘Mirador Hermanos Núñez Andreu’. All the groups in the corporation attended the event, to show support, they highlighted, to the family and the world of the donkey-taxi,and with the hope that, very soon, thousands of tourists will look out from this viewpoint. “The donkey must continue to be a symbol of Mijas because of what it means for the economy and for these brothers, who had the intelligence to find a market niche at that time, in the 60s, when it was not so easy”, stressed the spokesman for the Partido Popular in Mijas, Ángel Nozal.For her part, the spokeswoman for Podemos Mijas, Esperanza Jiménez, said that “this denomination seems a magnificent idea, and that is why we voted in favour in plenary session, so we continue to support the family and the figure of the donkey-taxi”. Jiménez also proposed modifying the figure of the donkey-taxi as a tourist attraction, changing the walks through the Village in Mijas to visiting them in a donkey refuge.

 

Source: Mijas Semanal