Two weeks in Spain - part 4

Date: 10 September 2012 09:31:22

Mijas (pronounced mee-hass)

Today is a bank holiday in this part of Spain, so it’s a day of avoiding the crouds and staying by the pool. Saturday was different, still part of the Bank Holiday weekend we travelled a few miles inland and partway up the mountain to the village of Mijas. We travelled by bus, [caption id="attachment_876" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

View from Mijas - South West[/caption] [caption id="attachment_875" align="aligncenter" width="300"]

View from Mijas - South East[/caption] Spanish busses come in two types, those with air conditionning that works, and those where it doesn’t. So far we had got the latter type, where the air-con wasn’t working properly and the busses were hot and stuffy. The bus to Mijas was the other sort, after two minutes we were feeling cool, after five the goosebumps started to form, bt the time we reached our destination we were shivvering. At least we kept stopping to let passengers, and some heat, in. In the village was the local shrine, a small church carved out of the rock. Inside was the usual Roman Catholic over gilded statuary. Too muck bling for my taste. And a stall selling rosaries. Fortunately there was none of the tacky souvenirs I am used to seeing at catholic shines. Still it looks good from the outside. [caption id="attachment_877" align="aligncenter" width="225"]

Bell tower above grotto[/caption] The six days of the Feria (fair) de Mijas was underway. Above the bullring (there always has to be a bullring in Adalicia) there was a large area by the church with a band playing. and the contestants for the miss Mijas competition (or whatever it was called) dancing in traditional dress. There was a Miss Facebook category for those who had voted on line. More importantly everybody got a free glass of the local wine. After all they were celebrating the grape harvest as well as it being the festival of the local church. Today thet will be doing the whole parading the statue through the streets thing, and half the Costa del Sol will be in this small village, which is why we went a couple of days early. Here's me doing the tourist bit and posing for a photo.

An enjoyable day out.