Mijas is located just 7 kilometres up a mountain road overlooking Fuengirola. It was so nice, we visited it twice. With local buses running every 30 minutes, it
was easy to visit and is popular with tourists and locals alike. It is a small place with around 8,000
inhabitants.
The area has been inhabited for around 2000 years and was a
mining centre for the ancient Greeks and Phoenicians. The town now mines tourists
who are attracted to the cute narrow winding streets, local craft shops and the
numerous quaint restaurants with killer views of Fuengirola, the Costa de Sol
and the Mediterranean. With its great
public transit it is also a bedroom community for Fuengirola.
It is a pristine example of the Andalucian “Pueblo Blanco”
(white villages). All the houses have
red roof tiles and are white washed. The white wash is a fairly modern
convention, as investigation of previous layers shows that different pigments
were mixed with the white wash. Red and yellow ochre’s were found.
There are a myriad of educated guesses as to
why the switch to a consistent white colour was made but it was a popular
decision as there are over a dozen “Pueblo Blanco” villages in the province of Andalusia.
I would suggest the idea first came from some husband who was tired of painting
the damn house every time his wife decided saw some fancy new colour on the neighbour’s
house.
Donkeys are another option for public transit in Mijas. They
have been a fixture there since the early sixties. Workers would ride their
donkeys to and from work and were constantly being stopped by tourists wishing
to take their picture. The workers wised up and started to ask for money and
soon realized they could make more money catering to tourists then from their
day jobs. From donkeys grew horse carriage rides and then those annoying rental
scooters.
Mijas is best seen at a slow walk so skip the scooters. Mijas
is built on a hill so up and down and sideways are the only directions
available. The streets are narrow and
some of the streets look suspiciously like stairs. Not a wheelchair friendly
place. Keep and eye out for Donkey pooh.
Some locals still insist on having a car which really distracts
from the beauty of the village.
There is a lovely 17th Century shrine in the
centre of the village dedicated to the towns’ patron Saint, La Virgin de la
Pena. The shrine gift shop was awesome
and bigger than the shrine itself. I got
myself an “I Heart Virgins” t-shirt.
Bull fighting is still a popular sport (BAH!) in Spain and
even a place as small as Mijas Pueblo has a bull ring. We do not plan to attend
and don’t get me started on my opinion of bull fighting. Let’s just say that
the last bull fight I witnessed, I was cheering for the bull. Calling it a
sport would be like calling hockey a religion. Okay, bad example.
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