Dream Trip to Spain: Mijas

Another excursion we had was to Mijas Spain.

Mijas visitor center

 Here's what Wikipedia has to say Mijas,_Spain

We drove to Mijas by taking A-7 then we turned onto a smaller road (which may have been 211- but I'm not sure)  that took us up to the town. And when I say up we were going up in elevation.  From Wikipedia the elevation of Mijas is about 1400 feet.
   Again this town boast of its sunny days and temperate climate.  But when we were there it was rainy the whole time.  Even with all of that we still had fun looking at and doing things in the town.  Its considered a quaint little area and the donkeys there provide the main form of transportation.  Because of this one of the first things we saw was this statue of a donkey  that you could climb upon and have your picture taken.  Because it was so wet I just settled for a picture of the donkey itself.

Donkey statue at the visitor center, Mijas

 To get an idea about Mijas I took a picture of the diorama that I saw in the museum we visited.  This helped a lot in getting a perspective on things.  As you can see the quarries in the area have been a major influence on the area.  These quarries go back to Roman times. 

Diorama of the Mijas Mountain and quarries

 Because the quarries are so important, I liked seeing this rock which was dedicated to the workers.  Seeing this rock also gave me an idea of what they were getting.  This rock looked like it was marble. 

A Rock dedicated to the workers in the quarries of Mijas

Now the most important business in the area is tourism and resorts.  Because of that there are a lot of quaint little shops that you can go into to get local products that are made in the area.  There were a lot of leather shops and the work I was seeing was very intricate and beautiful.  Unfortunately most of the stuff I saw I could tell the craftsman were proud of their work also and priced things outside of the range I'm comfortable spending much to my husbands pleasure. I didn't see anything that I couldn't live without. What I'm trying to say was I just looked and didn't buy anything. I must admit I did have a good time looking and was hoping I might find something that was a bargain.  I found out later that things are intentionally set high and they like to haggle with you over the price.  Some of the people we were with got some very nice things but they spent a long time getting to a price they could live with.

So since I wasn't into shopping I did what I like to do best and that is to sight-see.  Once again I was able to find a tour guide in English and bought that so I would know what we were looking at.  Now I'm using it to help me write this post.  It's called: 'Mijas- Tourist Guide' by Greentour.  2012 edition. Also they gave us a map with 14 points of interest on it. We didn't get to all of them but we did see quite a few of them.

I'm going to use their points of interest and what I saw.
#1 - Donkey Taxi-  This is the area where the buses park and you disembark to see the town.  Its just natural they have the donkeys there to give you a guided tour of the city.  Unfortunately for us it was raining and the Donkeys and drivers looked absolutely miserable and no one wanted to be riding out in the rain.  As it was we were just walking from shop to shop and was under awnings as much as possible or using our umbrellas when there wasn't any awnings.

Rainy day in Mijas

 I did get some photos of the donkey taxi's stand.

Donkey Taxi stand

Donkey's waiting to be used

Typical Donkeys at the Donkey stand, Mijas Spain

Donkey Taxi's

#2 El Compas View Point and Shrine of the Virgin of the Rock

El Compas View point as we were driving up to it.

Virgen De La Pena, Mijas Spain

Virgen De La Pena sanctuary, Mijas Spain

Sanctuary of Virgen de la Pena

#3 Miniature Museum "Carromato De Max" - We missed this- time was running out and we didn't go in the order of map guide.  Like I said before we were mostly trying to stay dry and so that determined the course we took and the things we saw.  This was very close to the Sanctuary of the Virgen de la Pena and we walked passed it and didn't even realize it.  I think this may have been it.

If not I thought it was a neat shot anyway.

#4 The Constitution Square -

Constitution Square, Mijas Spain

Flower vender in Constitution Square, Mijas Spain

 I really like seeing the flowers.  Years and years ago my husband and I had been to London, England.  The one thing we really liked was seeing all the flower venders on the streets.  This reminded us so much about that time.

Side view of Constitution Square, Mijas Spain

# 5 Bullring - We just saw the outside of it  and decided to skip it since you had to pay to go inside and we had already saw the one in Ronda, & we didn't have a whole lot of time left to see other things.

Mijas Bullring 

The sign in front of the Bullring

This was in front of the area where you entered the Bullring

#6 Parish Church - Its also known as the Immaculate Conception Church.

 The backside of the Parish Church, Mijas

Side view of the Parish church

 While we were walking around this building we could hear a choir singing and realized a service was in progress there.  I wanted to look inside the church but knew that wouldn't be appropriate since they were celebrating a mass. 

The front entrance to the Parish Church

Another front view of the Parish Church

#7 Fortress Walls, View Point and Gardens- This was by far my favorite place in Mijas.  It takes you out to a point where you can see all around.

Fortess Walls of Mijas

View from the Fortress Wall, Mijas

As we were walking we noticed the path split in two.  We weren't sure which one to take.  The more we walked we found out the reason why. 

Limestone crevice as part of the fortress wall.

As we were walking you could hear the strangest sound.  We realize it was doves cooing. If you look closely you can see some Doves in the little nooks and crannies of this limestone outcrop.  I took another picture of them and enlarge it so you could see how numerous they were.  This was near the walkway that you see in the picture above and you can tell they were avoiding the weather just like we were.

Doves seeking shelter from the rain in the fortress walls of Mijas

As I walked over the walk way I looked down and saw this crevice. At first I wonder what caused the split but then as I walked I figured it must have been caused by water. The rock also looked like it was limestone, but I couldn't test it to be sure.

Crevice in the fortress wall of Mijas

Looking down you can see a little stream flowing.

Water flowing through the fortress walls

I was impressed by it and liked looking at it from all different angles.

walkway over one of the crevices along the fortress wall

I could understand why the walkway was built the way it was now.

Fortress wall of Mijas

 As we walked we came upon this water feature. I liked looking at it.  If you look closely you can see some goldfish swimming in the ponds.

Gardens of the fortress wall, Mijas

Garden of the fortress wall

Garden of the Fortress wall

The gardens in the Fortress wall of Mijas

The one thing about the walk way was the view it offered.  On a clear day I bet its incredible.  As it was it still was pretty impressive.  We found out that the Romans had settled here for two reasons.  Form this point they could keep and eye on the Costa Del Sol region and the Mediterranean sea and also for the minerals they were able to mind from the area.

Viewpoint of the Fortress wall, Mijas

Viewpoint of the Fortress walls of Mijas.

We kept on looking and walking and really appreciated this poster that explained everything that we were seeing.   On a clear day you could see Africa and the Rock of Gibraltar.  Unfortunately for us we could barely see the Mediterranean Sea.

Illustration of the viewpoint features.

I was so mesmerized by the view I hardly notice the gardens which were pretty spectacular in there own right. Look at these daisy.

Gardens of the fortress wall, Mijas

I must admit I didn't recognize these flowers, but seeing as how I was in Spain I wasn't surprised by that.

Gardens of the fortress wall, Mijas

 Here's a broader view of what the gardens looked like.

Gardens of the fortress wall of Mijas

As we were leaving I saw this outcrop with these flowers growing in it.  At first I thought they might be violets but the more I looked I decided they weren't but I couldn't figure out what they were.  As you can see the outcrop is very vuggy.  No wonder there were all those nooks and crannies  and the flowers liked growing in them.

Rock outcrop in Mijas

Here's another photo I took that I liked for this area.

Gardens of the fortress wall, Mijas

#8 Caves of the old Forge-  Didn't get to. It wasn't mentioned in our guide book, so we thought it might not be worth seeing. Also it was out of the way of other things and we decided we didn't have enough time to walk to it and to eat lunch.  Lunch won out.

#9 The Shrine Our Lady of 'Los Remedios' and Barrio Santana-  Didn't get to because it was too far away to walk to.
But I did come upon this little shrine tucked into an outcrop along the De La Villa.

Shrine in the side of an outcrop, in Mijas

#10 The San Sebastian Church and Street- Saw it but didn't take a picture of it.

#11 Folk Museum- I really liked it.  The signs said this was a typical house for the area.  Thick walls with rooms off a center court yard. Each room had displays of things that were typical to that region.

Olive press - Mijas Folk Museum

barrels used to store olive oil - Mijas Folk Museum

A typical kitchen- Mijas Folk Museum

A typical courtyard- Mijas Folk Museum

A donkey grinding grain, Mijas Folk Museum

A picture of the virgin Mary with Jesus in the stairwell of the house

 And here was my favorite thing that I saw there.  I got quite the chuckle from it.  I liked their sense of humor.

The Bullring @ the Folk Museum, Mijas Spain

#12 Town Hall- Another place we saw but didn't take a picture.  In fact it was the first thing we visited, but it was closed.  We were impressed because outside it had a place were you were to dispose of your used batteries.  I wished more town halls have that service for people.

#13 'De La Sierra' View Point - didn't get to it.

#14 Shrine of the Calvario - another place we were unable to walk to.

Even though we didn't see it all we did see a lot.
Here's a few more photos I took that I thought were pretty typical of the place.

Street corner in Mijas

View of Mijas from the fortress wall

Typical shop in the vendor area on the Avda Del Compas, Mijas

Mijas Municipal Auditorium 

Water Fountain near the Municipal Auditorium, Mijas

I muse:  I wonder what the view would have been like on a clear day?  Would I have seen as much as I did if it was nice and I could sit out side and just take things in?

I muse: I wish there would have been more on the geology of the area after all its why the town is located where it is due to all the mining in the area.