Please Push F11 and ignore that picture at left.
Mijas, Spain, is the quintessential Andalusian white town, THE "típico pueblo blanco Andaluz." The hardware store stocks only one color of exterior paint. The old town sports an old Moorish fort at its center, a 16th century parish church, a bull ring ... everything you'd want in a Costa del Sol city. Expats flock here and over 1/3 of the inhabitants are foreign born -- from 113 different countries (but as you would expect, nearly half of these expats are Brits.)
White villages got started because the combination of adobe and limewash was effective against the heat -- and cheap. Historically it was the job of the woman to apply new wash every spring.
It's also only a few miles from our hotel so we set off about noon to walk through its old quarter. The town has discovered tourists and the money they spend between beaches and golf courses. They've built a modern garage, provided walking maps, and tacked good explanations in Spanish and English to the major attractions. Now if only they could add a few road signs...
We started at this shrine -- to the Virgin of the Rock. She would be better known as the Virgin of the big hair as she could be the patron saint of Dallas if Mijas had not claimed her first. This shrine was carved out by a Carmelite monk in the late 16th century to house a statue of the virgin that had been hidden for 5 centuries -- and then discovered by two shepherds led to the site by a dove. The sides of this cave have been added on and made to look like mother nature (or the Virgin) had done the job.
Look carefully to see two shrines in this picture: our eventual target on hill top--the Shrine of the Calvario (Calvary) is way off in the distance at center. At right Jesus guards the Shrine of the Virgin of the Rock (Virgen de la Pena). This picture shows our starting and ending point for our walk through white Mijas.
Another view of the Shrine of Calvary nestled among the scattered umbrella pines on the Sierra. The Barefoot Carmelites use this for their spiritual (and physical) exercises.
Like most towns converting their retail to souvenir shops, Mijas has the requisite horse buggies.... but Mijas has more, its famous ...
...donkey taxis. One thing I find puzzling, the horses and donkeys don't wear diapers as New Yorkers do, yet, the streets are clean. Are all of their livestock constipated. (When you're retired, you have time to ponder the major questions of the universe such as this.)
Where the town is not white, it's usually green and colorful. Mijas gardeners seem to be able to grown everything anywhere, as under this cave-like overhang here next to the Flour Mill museum.
The town has a few hokey museums such as this tiny museum, appropriate for its contents, which are...
...miniatures. This "Carromato de Max" displays the collection of hypnotist Professor Max who collected work from over 50 countries. It cost 3 Euros to get in, about what I paid when I first visited the Louvre. This was much better...
...for instance, these landscape paintings...
...or this toothpick which displays...
....the 7 wonders of the world. (As Jane said, where is the Astrodome?)
Answer: in Houston. Look closely at this dancer.
Now its time (drum roll please) for the pièce de résistance:
DaVinci's Last Supper...
...on a single grain of rice.
Not to mention that on the head of a pin we have the face of...
Abraham Lincoln. Does that make him a pinhead?
Luckily the miniature museum had only one gallery or we would have spent days there. Soon we were back outside in the perfect October air, 1500 feet high above the Mediterranean. As the town has attracted the many expats and tourists who flock to the Costa del Sol, restaurants have sprung up to exploit its great vistas.
Even new construction contributes to the white town of Andalucia feel.
High on the hill, pieces of the old Moorish Alcazaba rise among well-tended gardens.
Since 1904, this small town has had a bull ring.
The ring is small but its claim-to-fame is its rectangular shape. This shape is not obvious from this composite picture but we'll see it from a shot high up the hill in a moment. The "ring" is in the shadow of the old Moor tower at center, long ago converted to a Catholic church.
Here a famous matadoress dons red to enflame the bull. It didn't quite work, but the many donkey taxis started braying.
The other end of the "ring" allows for views of the Sierras in case the action inside slows down.
OK, it's hokey but we had to do something to get our 3 Euros worth out of the entrance fee.
Here's a view of the bull-fight ring from high above the city.
Next to the ring is a parish church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. While the parish is older than the Christian resurgence, the parish was moved on the site of the old Moorish castle -- and used the Mudejar fort tower as a bell tower. It was built 1541-1565.
Inside it's a classic nave with two side aisles; side altars have their own gated communities with highly decorated stucco ceilings.
The gold retable dominates the white interior. A sculpted and painted Crucifixion screen is at top and this ornate lectern is at left.
Across from Immaculate Conception church is the town auditorium, closed for us...
...but with its interior visible from above. The coastal city of Benalmadena anchors its beach in the distance.
Let's look at some of the very small neighborhood churches. This one is for the patron saint of Andalucia:La Virgen de los Remedios.
Inside the church is narrow -- and white.
Nearby (and spread throughout the old town) are numerous small squares such as this.
Another skinny church fronts this little plaza. The church is the tiny chapel of San Sebastian. One of the most scenic streets -- Calle San Sebastian -- climbs the hill at right (pedestrians only.) Calle Carril moves vehicle traffic to the left.
San Sebastian is an 18th century church, remodeled often...
...with another single narrow nave...
...with a very interesting ridgepole ceiling.
While the streets are a nearly monotonous monocolor white...
...the gardeners of Mijas have dressed them up somewhat with a plethora of potted plants...
...almost every street has some variation, but my favorite spot is...
...the house of the red pots, lots and lots of pots.
When the flora can not provide contrast, the fauna does.
Finally we reached the top of the old white city and were ready to start our trek up the mountain, past these stations of the cross...
...up a rocky (but mercifully short at 500 yards or so) trail.
Here Veronica waits with her veil on the steps of Cavalry.
Finally we made it, all by ourselves with our camera's remote control. (Can you see it?) This chapel was built in 1710. The shrine opens to the public only one day per year: Good Friday.
But most days of the year, it provides staggering views of its town of Mijas.
Then it was back to our car through the white, narrow, and potted streets of Mijas. THE END: See all of our travel pictures by cutting and pasting this link into your browser: http://www. dickschmitt.com/travels.html
