• Cartajima comes first

    Love ‘em or hate ‘em, IKEA has done a Good Thing! To celebrate their Malaga store’s five year anniversary, IKEA promised 25,000 euros to the village that received the most votes. We won!! The 25,000 euros has to be spent…

  • Festivals of Food and Wine in the Alto Genal

    The Alto Genal is the place to be in November! Four of the seven small villages scattered around the Alto Genal valley have a special festival celebrating an important aspect of local produce. But this is Andalucia so there is…

  • Shawarma in Farajan

    An exciting new restaurant – well, really just a bar with food but none the less thrilling for all that – has opened in Farajan, two villages along from Cartajima in the Alto Genal. We try to keep up with…

  • Griffon vulture, one of Nature’s garbage disposal units

    Not just eagles capture our admiring gaze as they soar gracefully over Los Castanos. In greater numbers we see griffon vultures, the largest European bird with a wingspan up to 9 feet. We frequently see griffons in the air, rising…

  • Road to Juzcar

    Every year on Easter Sunday, the Cartajima villagers are eager to see who will be the subject of the Judas doll. The Judas doll is just one part of the complex Easter tradition but perhaps the most explosive as those…

  • Geocaching in the Alto Genal

    Despite living in a peaceful bubble far from the maddening multitude, we make an effort to keep up with world events as well as what’s hip n’ doody in the real world outside Cartajima. I was therefore taken by surprise…

  • All about almonds

    This blogpost will be of interest to lovers of: almonds, food anthropology, and etymology. The almonds are just out in the Alto Genal valley, their gentle white and pink flowers contrasting sharply with the wiry bare branches of the figtrees….

  • (English) Ideas for Autumn Winter Escapes

    Should you be contemplating an Autumn escape, here are a couple of great ideas for breaks here in the undiscovered Serrania de Ronda. The annual Mosto Festival in Cartajima. Whilst the wine is not so great, the party is! And…

  • Gaddafi, Smurfs and 16th June

    From being an undiscovered, overlooked pristine Andalucian valley, the Alto Genal is really hitting the headlines. Not for all the reasons my guests and I are here: the untrampled beauty, the tranquillity broken only by birdsong, and the traditional villagers…

  • Sacré Bleu!

    Many cans of “pitufo* azul” paint are emptied every day as Juzcar’s old walls are prepared for the big event on an unspecified day but rumoured (Sony aren’t saying anything) to be 16th June in advance of the launching of…