Verdiales in Comares.
One of the highest pueblo blancos in
Andalucía (739 metres above sea level), Comares can be spied
for miles around, rising high above the surrounding countryside
and resembling a natural extension to the craggy rock face. A map
is useful, although first time visitors may still find the approach
hard to find and, equally baffling is the fact that the village
keeps disappearing from view as the windy country roads dip and
curve round a succession of death-defying hairpin bends! However,
when familiar with the approach, the journey from Málaga
airport is less than an hour, while the nearest coastal resort -
Torre del Mar - is just 24 kilometres away.
Fortunately,
despite being breathtakingly pretty, Comares has not yet succumbed
to the coach tour circuit, although there are several Brits and
other foreign residents here, and an exquisite small hotel on the
main plaza.
Throughout the village, there are colourful
ceramic plaques depicting Comares´ important place in history,
which can be traced back to the third century BC. The village was
one of the principle defensive bastions of Omar Ben Hafsun and during
the early times of the Moorish caliphs in Cordoba, protected what
are now the ruins of the local capital on the Mazmullar
plateau, some four kilometres from the village and worth
a visit.
The Moors built a fortress
in Comares that was, together with las Benthomiz and Zalía,
one of the three principle forts in the Axarquía.
Two of the towers that reinforced the wall are still here, one of
them next to the cemetery at the top of the village. Strategically
important in the defence of the crumbling Moorish territories, Comares
was finally conquered by the Catholic Kings from the north in 1487.
The village remains typically Moorish
in its layout and design with narrow cobbled streets, interspersed
with arches (two of which are thought to date back to medieval time),
flanked with simple whitewashed houses. The Parish Church
is 16th century with a beautiful coffered/stucco/moulded ceiling.
There are also two plazas, two bars, two supermarkets, a post office
and a bank. There is no souvenir shop (yet!) and you can't even
find a post-card on sale.
The
latter is particularly telling, as the views are, quite literally,
incredible. From the south, rolling hills of olive and almond trees
reach to the sea while, to the north, dramatic mountains rise up
far into distance, like a bewitching lunar landscape which shifts
and changes according to the light.
The
main industry in Comares is the production of olive oil, wine and
almonds while, in the valley, esparto grass is grown for domestic
and agricultural use.
This
is, without doubt, one of the prettiest villages in the province
of Andalucía and should be visited soon, before the raffia
donkeys go on sale.
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