The neighborhood of Aljibe (Al-Hawd) is located in Almería and is currently called the Pescadería-La Chanca neighborhood. The original neighborhood was called by the Muslims «Al-Hawd) which in English means Aljibe, which is an Arab architectural resource that served to generate drinking water. The Muslims chose that name in honor of a cistern that was located in the neighborhood in the period in which the Muslims built the city of Almeria. At that time, the Al-Hawd neighborhood stretched from Avenida del Mar to Barranco del Caballar.
It was a neighborhood that brought together people of humble class, specifically, fishermen, sailors or merchants of the west anchorage. With the reconquest by the Christians the neighborhood began to be called the neighborhood of La Chanca, whose most important development began from 1850. Its name, Pescadería-La Chanca, means «establishment or warehouse of almadraba», since the neighborhood was the place where fishermen stored their gear and prepared for fishing.
In addition, as a curious fact, until the moment of the expulsion of the Jews in 1492, in the neighborhood was the Jewish quarter, very close to the church of San Roque. According to Edrisi, a famous cartographer and geographer, the Aljibe neighborhood was densely populated and consisted of many shops, baths and inns open to the public.
If you visit this neighborhood you should know that it has some viewpoints with impressive and imposing views. They are the so-called «Barranco de Greppi» and the «Cerrillo del Hambre». It is easy to get to them, for the first you have to go to Cara Street and to get to the second you must go to one of the most typical and busy streets of the neighborhood, the Hospicio Viejo. They really are views that are worth contemplating.
