Back to the Most Beautiful Village in Spain
September 27, 2017
One of the joys of our mother-daughter European trip this summer, was returning to Spain and our gorgeous white village where Mozart went to school for five months in the winters from first through fourth grade.
It's been voted the prettiest village in Andalucia by the Spanish Tourism Authority and is about an hour's drive east of Malaga and also about an hour from Granada. This is the first time we'd ever been there in the summer, but we know it's falls, winters and springs well.
It's a sugar cube style, hill top, white village surrounded by green hills, huge mountains, blue skies and views to the nearby sea.
One drives up a windy road to arrive at this ancient village, originally built by the Moors where Jews, Arabs and Christians lived together peacefully for 800 years. I still find it breath-taking when one rounds certain bends on the way there and capture peeks of "our village".
One thing wonderful about visiting and living in this white village is most of it is all walkable, cobblestone streets and stairs where no cars can go.....
...and the views are always spectacular.
This view was from a shop and little restaurant where we rested for a while and ate the delicious local food. So many happy memories of these kind of simple pleasures.
One of the idiosyncratic delights of this village is when a rare car or truck makes it's way down one of the narrow, cobblestone streets. Daily life is a walking life here, usually car free, but in a few places like this, one has to sometimes deal with a vehicle through these narrow, ancient passage ways. The local way of handling this is to pause in some strangers door ( usually left open in Spain) until the vehicle passes. I had missed this every day odd ritual.
Even just a truck going through the village is a unique moment, not to mention just taking in the beauty all around as one strolls around the village surrounded by mountains.
There are two large parks for the kids, so of course, Mozart wanted to visit the park where she spent many hours playing with friends during those years not so long ago.
As well as just walking around the village with all the locals which is a lifestyle we miss. All of life takes place in these ancient roads, from daily grocery shopping and errands, to every festival filled with people and even every funeral where the locals walk from one end of the village to the other, starting in the church square.
Life goes at a very different pace in a little village in Spain than it does in our hectic life of late based in Santa Monica, California with all the traffic and fast moving music and acting business she is in now.
Beautiful Andalusian horses and some with wagons are still daily parts of village life in Spain as you can see looking down on the one paved road that circles around the town. It is still a farming village for many, so seeing sheep, oxen and horses from nearby farms is nothing out of the ordinary.
There are record amounts of wonderful restaurants with all kinds of food and since their is sun 300 days out of the year, sitting outside in the sun or under an umbrella is de rigueur.
When we left, I had to look again at this beautiful view of mountains, sky and "our village" that has always pleased me so and now has made a permanent impression on my heart. This will always be a home we love and we carry it with us.
Mozart had fun meeting up with friends she went to school with like this young boy and her best girl friend as they wandered down roads where they ran free together for so many years, went to the local school and participated in the many festivals together. There are not that many opportunities for young people in a small village, so many may move on to other places soon, thus sixteen turned out to be an ideal age to visit, connect and learn what is eternal and the same about village life and how time has also changed things.
One of the joys of our mother-daughter European trip this summer, was returning to Spain and our gorgeous white village where Mozart went to school for five months in the winters from first through fourth grade.
It's been voted the prettiest village in Andalucia by the Spanish Tourism Authority and is about an hour's drive east of Malaga and also about an hour from Granada. This is the first time we'd ever been there in the summer, but we know it's falls, winters and springs well.
It's a sugar cube style, hill top, white village surrounded by green hills, huge mountains, blue skies and views to the nearby sea.
One drives up a windy road to arrive at this ancient village, originally built by the Moors where Jews, Arabs and Christians lived together peacefully for 800 years. I still find it breath-taking when one rounds certain bends on the way there and capture peeks of "our village".
One thing wonderful about visiting and living in this white village is most of it is all walkable, cobblestone streets and stairs where no cars can go.....
...and the views are always spectacular.
This view was from a shop and little restaurant where we rested for a while and ate the delicious local food. So many happy memories of these kind of simple pleasures.
One of the idiosyncratic delights of this village is when a rare car or truck makes it's way down one of the narrow, cobblestone streets. Daily life is a walking life here, usually car free, but in a few places like this, one has to sometimes deal with a vehicle through these narrow, ancient passage ways. The local way of handling this is to pause in some strangers door ( usually left open in Spain) until the vehicle passes. I had missed this every day odd ritual.
Even just a truck going through the village is a unique moment, not to mention just taking in the beauty all around as one strolls around the village surrounded by mountains.
There are two large parks for the kids, so of course, Mozart wanted to visit the park where she spent many hours playing with friends during those years not so long ago.
As well as just walking around the village with all the locals which is a lifestyle we miss. All of life takes place in these ancient roads, from daily grocery shopping and errands, to every festival filled with people and even every funeral where the locals walk from one end of the village to the other, starting in the church square.
Life goes at a very different pace in a little village in Spain than it does in our hectic life of late based in Santa Monica, California with all the traffic and fast moving music and acting business she is in now.
Beautiful Andalusian horses and some with wagons are still daily parts of village life in Spain as you can see looking down on the one paved road that circles around the town. It is still a farming village for many, so seeing sheep, oxen and horses from nearby farms is nothing out of the ordinary.
There are record amounts of wonderful restaurants with all kinds of food and since their is sun 300 days out of the year, sitting outside in the sun or under an umbrella is de rigueur.
When we left, I had to look again at this beautiful view of mountains, sky and "our village" that has always pleased me so and now has made a permanent impression on my heart. This will always be a home we love and we carry it with us.
Mozart had fun meeting up with friends she went to school with like this young boy and her best girl friend as they wandered down roads where they ran free together for so many years, went to the local school and participated in the many festivals together. There are not that many opportunities for young people in a small village, so many may move on to other places soon, thus sixteen turned out to be an ideal age to visit, connect and learn what is eternal and the same about village life and how time has also changed things.
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Wow what a beautiful post! The town of Andalucia is gorgeous. I really like the narrow streets, they are very magical feeling. We would love to show people this part of Spain on one of our small group adventure tours. I thought it was interesting how there are mosaic like designs on the streets (the picture with the truck). Overall great photos and I cannot wait until the next post! Keep venturing!
Posted by: Henry Riley | September 27, 2017 at 08:15 PM
Thanks Henry! It's a beautiful area for sure!
Posted by: Jeanne @soultravelers3 | October 14, 2017 at 03:41 PM