looking down on the Mediterranean

up in Mijas

If you’ve been here a while, you know I like climbing. This blog didn’t exist last year during hiking season but if it had, there would’ve been many posts of mountains I’d climbed. Something to look forward to if you like that sort of thing.

When I was in Nice at New Year’s, I wrote about this fascination of mine in going up up up. Some insist on dividing others into either one sort of person or another? You’re either a cat person or a dog person. Either you prefer eating sweets or you like meat dishes? I’ve always thought this was ridiculous. Although I’ve had dogs most of my life, I really enjoy cats. And the food question? If you tried to make be decide which one I liked more (savoury main course or sugary dessert), my immediate response would be: I want both.

I’ve heard the same sort of question about either mountains or the beach. My suspicion is that this is some sort of personality test nonsense. Do you like mountains? Yes, very much. Do you like the beach? Well, I like walking on the beach. I’m not one for laying around on the sand, but I like watching the waves.

My answer is that I want both. I want to be high up in the mountains but be able to look out at the ocean. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

would you let this guy pull you around?

Arrived in Mijas (outside of Málaga) up in the hills above Fuengirola, and the first thing I saw was an Ass-taxi. That search term is going to bring some disappointed viewers. Here’s the Ass-taxi:

the story is that sometime back in the early 1960s, some workers were on their way home riding their donkeys. Some (probably inebriated) tourists insisted on taking photos of themselves on the donkeys. The amount in tips the tourists gave was more than the donkey-riding locals had been making working the land, so a new career was born. Ass-taxi entrepreneur.

view of the Mediterranean from Mijas

The village itself was gorgeous. Tonnes of tourists, but what do you expect when a place is so beautiful? Yes, there was a great view of the Mediterranean and it felt somehow cooler up here than it was back on the coast (I don’t think it actually was). If you walked as far away from the main square as you could, you could see a bit of what the place might’ve been like before tourism (aside from the no parking signs and satellite dishes). Here’s a nice shot I got of that part of the village:

view of Andalusian white village

It’s not written with a particularly great command of English, but if you want to know more about this little village of Mijas, here’s the Wikipedia article about it. The history of the resistance of the local villagers when the Spanish conquerors had already taken Málaga and surrounding regions was quite intriguing. As I often say, I reserve the right to come back and explore this topic in a future blogpost. It certainly wouldn’t be difficult to hold my attention.

9 comments

  1. Yes, that’s where broccoli comes from, Elaine.
    I must say, Ken, that neither a beach or a mountain can hold my attention the way a town, village or city can. One of my favourite things to do is wander around unfamiliar cities a little before dawn, watching them wake up.

    1. thought so.

      i like looking at the foreign culture, too. especially if it is unexpected. the details you don’t get from tv, for instance. although, for me, i am often struck by different nature, too. hence the broccoli trees. i also loved the black squirrels in new york and the squadron of battleship grey pelicans that flew alongside our car on a california road trip – the ones in the UK don’t fly, are white, and just life lonesome lives in parks.

    2. Oh, I like doing that, too. Wandering towns I’m not familiar with is one of my favourite things.

      Whether in the early morning or late afternoon.

  2. Oh, I love this. What a beautiful place to visit.

    I like when you get to climb. It makes me smile. I like to imagine you always climbing something. Much like your beloved goats.

    1. This year’s hiking season is going to be adequately represented on this blog. Ella and Louis love the mountains so much, and I love to take them there.

      It’s not like it’s difficult to convince me to go to the mountains.

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