Our book of walks covers the area around these two pretty White Villages, near Ronda, in the mountainous interior of Andalucia in southern Spain.
GRAZALEMA, at the eastern edge of Cadiz province, is a larger, livelier town than rural Montejaque and higher in altitude (830m). It is dramatically sited, hanging in a bowl of high mountains and occasionally obscured by mist. The town has many fine examples of iron-balconied old houses, and an interesting history with customs such as the bull-running still an annual event. Its small wool factories produce blankets, ponchos, shawls and scarves for export, while the lower countryside around is noted for cattle breeding and cork oak farms.
The area near the village was occupied from Roman times. From the 8th century until the Christian invasion in 1485, the area was settled by Muslims of North African Berber origin – reflected in many of the Arabic place names.
MONTEJAQUE (pronounced “Montay hackay”) is at the western edge of Málaga province. This beautiful, compact white village, is set in spectacular limestone countryside, at 689m above sea-level, and between the valleys of the Gaduares and the Guadiaro rivers. To the east, the Algarrobo ridge separates it from the Ronda plain, while to the west are the higher peaks of El Hacho (1075m), Sierra de Montalate (1100m) and Sierra de Juan Diego (1298m).
