España – Málaga – Mijas Town (En)

Taking advantage of the fact that we had to go to Malaga city one day, and after having breakfast with my friend Reme, on the way back I decided to show Ben one of the most beautiful towns in Malaga, Mijas. There are two parts of Mijas, Mijas Coast and Mijas Town, for me the most attractive is Mijas Town which is in the mountains.

The beautiful town of Mijas is a group of whitewashed houses perched on the mountain with magnificent views of the Mediterranean. Although it is reminiscent of a mountain village, barely seven kilometres separate it from the beaches of Fuengirola.

The charming town is distributed in winding slopes that go up and down full of colourful pots overflowing with flowers that contrast with the white of the facades that they decorate. Its typically Andalusian architecture and its magnificent views of the Mediterranean are undoubtedly two of the best assets of Mijas.

The Virgen de la Peña square is the centre of the town. When we arrived they were dancing flamenco in the centre of the square for the enjoyment of the tourists.

In the square, you can find the Town Hall as in the picture above, the hermitage that gives name to the square, many restaurants, souvenir shops and the mill house museum. From there we went up through the narrow streets to see the wall on the top of the town.

To have beautiful views of the sea and discover some remains of the defensive wall of Mijas, we walked through the Wall gardens and saw the Municipal Auditorium.

At the top, we found the bullring of Mijas. Regardless of whether you like bullfighting or not (specifically I don’t), it is quite unusual if you decide to visit it because it is the only one with an oval shape in Spain. This is a consequence of the lack of space in the chosen location that led to the stands around the ring having to be built only at the ends.

Right next to the bullring, you can see the Church of the Immaculate Conception, which is really a converted Mudejar mosque, mixing this style with many Baroque details.

From there we went back down through the flower-filled streets with incredible vies to see the San Sebastian Hermitage, very tiny, dressed in the characteristic brown marble of Mijas. It is a very simple place of worship but has many devotees.

And finally, we went to see the famous Donkey taxis, for which the town is known. They say they have their own veterinarian and that they are very well cared for, now there is a weight limit to be able to get on the donkey taxis which I think is very good (Ben couldn’t get on!). The one I got on was the bronze donkey in the centre of the avenue!

And so we end our visit to Mijas Town. The following 14th March we will start our next trip, this time through the middle of Spain towards France and beyond, which you can see in a week’s time!