Oh, hen !

Andalucía, this southernmost region of Spain, is famous for its "pueblos blancos" - the white towns and villages that scatter the mountain sierras. One of those towns is Ojén (pronounced "oh, hen.") It's near the coastal resort of Marbella, which means it's not particularly far from where I live, but for some reason I've never visited it until today. Driving home from a meeting in Marbella (I was taking the route over the mountain range, the Sierra Blanca) I decided to pop into Ojén and see what it was like.

It's not a very large town, and so it didn't take me much more than an hour and a half to walk around its quaint, steep streets. I was given a personal tour of the little "mill museum," seeing how past generations used giant millstones to press their olive oil and huge copper stills to make a famous aniseed brandy that the town is still known for.

I also went to see the neolithic caves, that were used as places of shelter for families and livestock in ancient times. You can still see parts of the stalactites that formed the caves in the past. Ojén has recently restored a couple of them, putting in benches and spotlights so that they can be used as lookout spots with wonderful views over the town and out to the Mediterranean.

Speaking of lookout spots, the mountains behind Ojén, the Sierra Blanca or "white mountain range," have some high peaks and viewpoints with amazing vistas that stretch all the way across the sea to Africa. As I had some time available, I decided to make a detour on my way home and take a walk to the two closest viewpoints. One of them had a view over the town of Ojén and onward over the mountains to the Costa del Sol and the Mediterranean Sea. The other had a view down to Marbella and out over the sea to the mountains of Morocco in the distance.

It was a pleasant walk there, among the mountain peaks. I met a French couple who were also walking up to see the view, and when I arrived at the furthest "mirador," I had a long chat with an elderly English couple who had walked all the way up there to enjoy the view and a rest in the sunshine. All in all, an enjoyable day of exploring, before heading home to Alhaurín again.