22/10/2025
🐟 The Legend of Miguel, the Fisherman of El Palo
More than a century ago, in the small fishing neighborhood of El Palo, lived a humble fisherman named Miguel Martínez Soler.
Every day, Miguel would go out to sea before sunrise and return by noon with a few kilos of fresh sardines — sometimes enough to sell, sometimes just enough to feed his family.
One scorching summer day in 1882, he came back from fishing, hungry and tired, but he had no stove, no kitchen, and no money to buy charcoal. So he did what any clever Andalusian would do — he made do with what he had.
He stuck a few fresh sardines on a reed, planted it upright in the sand near his boat, and lit a small fire with driftwood and olive branches. The smell of grilled fish began to float through the air, and soon people walking along the beach stopped to ask:
> “¿Miguel, me haces uno?” — “Miguel, will you make me one too?”
He grilled sardines for them, and in exchange they gave him a few coins. That was the very first time someone sold an espeto.
Word spread quickly. Locals and visitors started coming to the beach to eat Miguel’s fish, and soon others copied his idea — roasting sardines in old boats turned into grills. That’s how the first chiringuito was born, right there on the sand.
The people of Málaga still remember him fondly as “Miguel, el inventor del espeto.” There’s even a statue of him today in El Palo, standing proudly by the beach, holding a skewer of sardines over the fire — a symbol of Málaga’s soul.
