We have a little bit of catch-up to do on the blog so it’s a fast rewind to Torrox…

Thursday (23 Feb 2023) we walked into Torrox costa from the campsite on a very windy and rather chilly day.

Dinner was at the local restaurant, La Roima.

Friday Moe had to visit the Doctor so we drove into Torrox and to the “Centro de salud”. She took her passport and GHIC card and was triaged by a nurse straight away followed by a short wait before she was examined by the Doctor and prescribed some medication.

Very fast and efficient but we should have been better prepared, with more stuff written down and translated. We assumed incorrectly, that in this part of Spain, everyone would speak good English but this was far from the case at the Torrox health centre.

After lunch we drove to Nerja and looked around this charming old town. The old and new meet along this coastline.

The Eagle Aqueduct, also known as the Eagle Bridge was built in the 19th century and has been used continuously since – presently used to irrigate farmland. It was built originally to aid the industrial revolution and was intended to carry water from the town of Nerja to the local sugar refinery in Maro.

The aquaduct was commissioned by the factory owner, Francisco Cantarero Senio and his signature is visible in the central pavilion of the aquaduct.

The design of the aqueduct is typical of the period of its construction (19th century), when the Mudejar style (copied from the ornamental architecture originally used by Muslim craftsmen in Spain between the 13th and 15th centuries) was very popular. The aqueduct is four stories high; each tier is constructed from a series of brick, horseshoe shaped archways, of which there are 37 in total. These are topped with a mudejar-style spire, on top of which is a weather vane in the shape of a double-headed eagle, from which the aqueduct takes its name. The origin of the eagle symbol is not known for certain, but it is rumoured that during the time of construction eagles were seen nesting in the hills of Maro.

Saturday we returned to Torrox old town.

Towering above the main square, with its warm, golden bricks contrasting against the white houses stands Torrox’s main church ‘Nuesta Senora de la Encarnacion’.

The church was built in the 16th Century over the site of an ancient mosque. Today the main parts date from the end of the 19th century as the church had to be completely rebuilt after it was damaged in a strong earthquake.

The new church was built in a Baroque style. It is a surprisingly large church for a pueblo. Constructed with 3 naves and a beautiful square tower which has semi-circular arches supporting a roof with pinnacles

Sunday we drove back to Lake Vinuela and walked part way around the reservoir. We also visited Periana because there’s a rough gravel track from Periana to Ventas de Zafarraya. In fact, with some decent electric bikes I think one could cycle from Lake Vinuela all the way to Zafarraya itself.

Monday we visited one of the pretty white villages – Frigiliani. Voted the ‘prettiest village in Andalucía’ by the Spanish tourism authority, Frigiliana is also important from an historical viewpoint. El Fuerte, the hill that climbs above the village, was the scene of the final bloody defeat of the Moors of La Axarquía in their 1569 rebellion.

We had a good look around this stunning location which is a tangle of narrow cobbled streets lined with whitewashed houses, their wrought-iron balconies filled with planters of brilliant red geraniums