Out and About
The Village
When you come to stay at La Majada Alta or Loma la Parra your first visit will be to EL VALLE DE ABDALAJIS just a few minutes from Loma la Parra and only 7 kms (4 miles) from the cottage.
Here you will find many bars and restaurants and two banks with cash machines.
The village is dominated by the Sierra de Abdalajis which provides a back-drop for the 17th century church in the main square. Here you can sample the bustle of daily village life where there is a row of shop stalls including two fish mongers, a butcher, a bakery and cake shop, vegetable stall etc. At the end of the row you can buy traditional “churros” (like unsweetened doughnuts) in the mornings and just behind the church is another bakery still using a wood burning oven to make bread.
There are two well stocked supermarkets (Pepitas and Dia) and leading off the square in various directions is another bakery with a fine array of bread and cakes, another butcher’s and the village drinking fountain which has been gushing water since pre- Roman times.
Incidentally, the village school and a local restaurant have retained the Roman name for the village, Nescania. The new name dates from the Moorish Invasion and is a corruption of Abdul Aziz.
Los Atanores just outside the village is the largest restaurant and they offer a full menu and good wine list. www.restauranteventalosatanores.com
Roast chicken is available in the village below the petrol station.
As you stroll around the steep streets of the village you will find many more small shops and bars.
Antequera
ANTEQUERA is our nearest large town, steeped in history and crammed with ancient buildings and monuments, including the ruins of a castle.
One of the joys of visiting Antequera is to gaze into the courtyards of old palaces as you walk through the town. Although there is a district of the old quarter, many of the ancient churches, convents and palaces are simply part of the fabric of the town.
Antequera is the main shopping centre in the area with many large supermarkets with their own parking as well as a thriving and varied selection of fashion, shoes, antiques and a big covered municipal market selling meat, fish, poultry and tempting vegetables and always the exotic scent of spices to remind you Andalucia’s Moorish roots.
Here you will find many tapas bars, ice cream parlours, large restaurants and among the 4* hotels with their restaurants open to the public are La Magdalena, Antequera Golf, and Finca Eslava.
There is also a bull ring and an 18 hole golf course .
Other white villages nearby.
Álora is another busy, bustling, lively village and our nearest neighbour.
Other places to see nearby are Casarobonela, (famous for its bottled water) Ardales, (cave paintings and lakes) .Carratraca, (birth place of Antonio Banderas) Carratraca, ( hot mineral springs).
A little further away and well worth visiting are Ronda and of course Malaga, the capital city of the province.
And the beaches and glitzy towns of the Costa del Sol are just a couple of hours away.
Day trips:
From our very central locations at Loma la Parra and La Majada Alta, day trips are quite easy to the famous , historic cities of Granada, (the Alhambra Palace) Cordoba, (the Mezquita Arabe) and Seville ( the capital city of Andalucia).