Our stay in stunning Mijas...

We really enjoyed our four week stay in Almeria and got to know it very well plus the fact that we could make day excursions from there, as well as away breaks to Granada and Mojácar made it the perfect base. 

Continuing on our Spanish tour our first stay after leaving Almeria was the beautiful Mijas, ranked as one of the most picturesque 'Pueblos Blancos' in Andalusia. After tucking the car away safely in the discretely disguised multi-story carpark we had time to find a restaurant for lunch and to explore the village before checking into our accommodation.

The views from the terrace once you leave the parking let you know just how high you have climbed to get here. The tourist office is also well placed here so we picked up a map and set off. As a tourist you are immediately offered the services of the donkey carts, something most travel forums will tell you to avoid due to their apparent mistreatment.

Would have to say the ones we saw looked pretty healthy.

You also had the option of a horse-drawn carriage but we chose 'Shanks's pony' instead.   

There was a photo op here but Pauline refused to take part!

We walked through its pretty streets until we came to a restaurant with people sitting soaking in the sun, we decided to join them and had a light lunch. 

We also thought that its position meant that it might be a lovely place to have an appero and watch the sun going down on the benches opposite.

For our stay in Mijas Pauline managed to book us into an apartment on Calle Sebastian which happens to be one of the most photographed streets on the Costa del Sol! It had a lovely roof terrace with great views.

As you can see we were happy with her choice!

There was also a restaurant underneath the apartment which we had a look at for dinner but they were actually booked out for the evening as they had a group coming in. After a chat with the owner and explaining we were in the apartment above she agreed to let us come for dinner after she had catered for the group.

We then went to further explore the village, first stop was the small chapel next door to us.

Then we popped into the village's little museum which looked onto our street, it gives a little insight into how people lived here in the past.

The view from the museum onto our street and the chapel.

Then it was a visit to the village's grotto which was dug into the rock by a Carmelite monk in the second half of the 17th century. It houses the image of the Virgen de la Peña, patron saint of Mijas, which according to legend was discovered in 1586 by two children who were guided to the place by a dove.

Then it was back to walking around the village and taking in the atmosphere.

There was a lovely clifftop walk with great views down to the coast.

As the sun was going down we headed back over to the restaurant for our appero and view.

Unfortunately we did not check the opening hours and arrived to it closed! Still we had the views, like the one looking back to the clifftop walk plus the sunset.

We sat on the bench where a charming young woman from Cincinnati was kind enough to take our photo,

Then it was back to the restaurant where we had the place to ourselves with a lovely meal of tuna and the best of service.