Torre-Alháquime
Written by Geoff Forster
Torre-Alháquime: We left Benarrabá one beautiful morning in mid July.
We headed down the A369 Algeciras to Ronda road.
At Atajate we turned to cross the Guadiaro valley passed Jimera de Libar. We went to Montejaque and then drove on to the A376 Ronda - Seville road.
We turned off after a few km onto the A382 road to Olvera.
We had a walk around Olvera, visited Pruna and then headed to Torre-Alháquime. The road twisted through some beautiful countryside. Torre-Alháquime sits on top of an outcrop. It is surrounded by cultivated farmland that gives a patchwork quilt effect. 
At the edge of town we were surprised to see a large collection of signs for Torre-Alháquime. At least we knew we'd got to our destination. Now we had to find a parking space. 
We turned up a sharp rise into the pueblo. We had lost momentum after stopping at the junction, our poor Clio struggled up into Torre-Alháquime at about 1km/hr. 
The bottom part of Torre-Alháquime had some quite recently renovated/built houses. 
This lovely tile plaque of San Roque was near the CA4222 road. 
This is the view looking up to Torre-Alháquime from near the CA4222 road that skirts the pueblo. The Barrio de San Roque. 
We started the steep walk to the top of the pueblo.
Jane found a welcome seat in the shade. 
The streets are pretty, good houses, lined with orange trees. 
About midway to the top we found a pretty mirador/plaza. 
The streets were narrowing as we climbed, this was the older part of Torre-Alháquime. 
This ruin is a renovation project for someone. It would have fantastic views. 
We climbed up to a children's playground/mirador, it was the highest point of Torre-Alháquime. Possibly this used to be a castillo.
Unfortunately there was a bit of graffiti and the area had been vandalised.
This is the view from the top of Torre-Alháquime through an old ruined window. 
We were level with the roof of the church. 
We left the playground mirador down some stars that took us to the front of the church. The Iglesia Parroquial Nuestra Senora de la Antigua built in the eighteenth century. It was being renovated.
Opposite the church was a lovely square. The Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) of Torre-Alháquime is the building with the flags outside. 
This tiled plaque was on the side of the church. 
The lovely Iglesia in Torre-Alháquime. 
There was an archway with a passage under the Ayuntamiento.
There was an amusing plaque about good and naughty children here. 
Near the plaque was this religious shrine/niche. 
We were both hot and had seen a couple of bars near the little plaza. We went into Bar Alháquime.
It was a large pleasant room, the air conditioning was attracting a few locals who sat nursing coffees, making them last.
We had a Coke, the cheapest that we've come across so far on our travels.
We thought a car alarm was going off until we realised it was an incredibly loud and vocal canary.
The bar owner seeing our interest in his birds came across and told us about them.
Refreshed we walked back down to the car.
We'd seen a large statue of Jesus from the streets above.
It was very close to where the car was parked. 
We enjoyed our visit to Torre-Alháquime. The people were very friendly.
Andalucía is a friendly place but Torre-Alháquime was especially so.
Every person we met, or passed, said 'Hola' and smiled.
A lovely pueblo definitely worth visiting.