Canillas de Aceituno

Good Friday started a bit grey, so what to do? we jumped in the car and headed West along the coast road from Nerja.
As we drove out of Torre del Mar you see one of the famous Spanish Bulls on the hilltop. (These were originally advertising signs for Osborne, but have become a symbol of Spain and are all listed monuments now.)
Where we took the photograph of the Bull, we turned right following a sign that said Viveros Blanco 1800mt, along a track through farm land (see the Oxen pulling the cart) that brought us out at Velez Malaga, so we took the road up towards Lake Vinuela.
We turned right following the signs to Canillas de Aceituno and headed up the mountain road, which is quite windy and twisty, and generally good road surface but with great views.
Canillas de Aceituno is perched almost on the top of the mountain and although one of the signs said 8km to go, it still takes a while longer because you never get out of third gear.
A pretty mountain Village with quite a few Tapas bars and restaurants, and a very nice Church with the statue of Mary that the village use in their Semana Santa processions (a lot smaller than the ones in Nerja but still lovely)
We called in a Tapas bar with the not very Spanish name of Andalucia.com, for two large coffees and two Tapas for 2.30 Euros which makes you realise how expensive Nerja can be, as we paid 3.00 Euros for just two coffees on the Balcon de Europa the night before!

Round the corner from the Church we took a photograph of one of the streets, and in the foreground you can see an iron bowl with a couple of logs smouldering on the ground.
The Spanish still use this sort of thing when it is cold, when the logs stop smoking the bowl is placed under the dining table and you pull the tablecloth over your knees, so you get a sort of under-table heating!

For the drive back we followed the road out of the village and on towards Archez, then along the road to Velez Malaga through Corumbela. The road can be quite rough in sections, but the last bit into Velez is terrific for a quick spurt of speed.