The Costa del Sol never stops shining, but it is true that in spring an awakening begins that also fills the entire province of Malaga with colors and vegetation. Today, to fill us with the south, we are going to Malaga, but perhaps to an area that is not so busy.
Very tourist and very marine, this Andalusian province is very famous for everything that happens in the western part of its coast. Marbella, Fuengirola, Benalmádena, Mijas, Torremolinos… A good part of the tourism in the province focuses on this part of the coast.
However, Malaga hides treasures inside which are well known as Ronda or Antequera and, as we are dealing with today, a charming town towards the east, where perhaps the great tourist reference is Nerja.
Our plan takes us to a delicious white village in the Axarquía region. Frigiliana waits hereresplendent and whitewashed and lined with narrow streets and cobbled streets that shine between flowers and sun during spring, also included in the list of The Most Beautiful Towns in Spain.
Its uniqueness makes it almost the best of both worlds, as it is nestled in the Sierra de Almijarabut it opens up like a balcony over the Mediterranean Sea, from whose coasts it is barely 10 kilometers away, being very close to Nerja.
The last cane honey factory in Europe
One of the curiosities of Frigiliana is that it still preserves —actively— a single factory throughout Europe. It is about the Nuestra Señora del Carmen cane honey, which is obtained from sugar cane and whose mill —that is what these sugar cane treaty plants are called— dates from the 17th century, although there are already chronicles of the use of sugar cane in the 16th century.
The factory was owned by the lords of Frigiliana, who already sold it in the 20th century to the De la Torre family, current owners of the Palace of the Counts of Frigiliana and those responsible for currently exploiting this brand that produces the only cane honey in Europe.
A historic center full of treasures
Frigiliana, like so many other towns on the Malacitano coast, flourished from the Renaissance due to a powerful trade both agricultural and commercial. In fact, it is a key area for understanding the Muscatel variety raisins. So much so that the FAO classified the cultivation of these raisins in La Axarquía as an Important World Agricultural Heritage System, of which there are only five in the entire world.
This also made it possible for the fruit richness of these easy treasures to keep enriched the area, also full of crops and orchards. That is why the presence of the aforementioned palace is not surprising, nor is it the enormous amount of artistic heritage.
the same Frigiliana old town It is already a work of art, full of Mudejar style, or the Palacio del Apero, also in the center of the town. There also stands out the Church of San Antonio, in the upper part of the town, while in the lower part it has been developing in a contemporary way.
One should also mention the presence of the Reales Pósitos, old grain silos built in the 18th century. Today they are private homes, but they maintain the exterior structure with the entrance arcades on Calle Real (one of the most photographed in the town).
A tourism of sun, earth and table
Well endowed with hostels and rural houses, spending the night in Frigiliana is easy. It is also easy to eat well throughout La Axarquía, an area where the malagueño goat is the watchword. In nearby Canillas de Aceituno, blood sausage is also very typical.
In addition to the goat, the other great mountain meat is the choto. Next to them, a collection of garden dishes such as the fennel stew, the ajoblanco or the white fish testify to a mountain and seafood cuisine that you should not lose sight of.
A green and walkable Frigiliana
Frigiliana has in its surroundings a dozen hiking trails of varying difficulty but generally affordable towards their mountains. Classified by color and explained in the town’s tourist office, some of the privileged places that can be discovered are the Lomas del Chillar, the Cruz de Félix or the Cahorros del río Higuerón.
Once again in Frigiliana we can discover the botanical gardensmall in size but very careful, where we find the crops that were historically relevant in this area of Andalusia such as esparto grass, hearts of palm, olive trees, medicinal plants or sugar cane.
Images | iStock Sushaaa / iStock T_Mizuguchi / iStock Romet6 / iStock Jacek_Sopotnicki / iStock xbrchx
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