Algodonales
Written by Geoff Forster
Algodonales: It was late June and we left Benarrabá to visit Zahara de la Sierra. We drove down the A369 to Ronda then took the A 376 Seville road for a few km before turning off to Zahara.
After a lovely morning exploring in Zahara de la Sierra, we then drove across the dam and took the road to Algodonales. We had been here once before and weren't too impressed by what we'd seen.
We parked the car as soon as we found a space on the road into the pueblo.
Nearby this street was a fairly new build, but quite pleasant with the orange trees.
Algodonales is one of the bigger pueblos in the area. In shape it looks a bit like a bra drying on the hillside.
We walked up, passed this bar disco with lots of graffiti which seemed to be everywhere in this area of town. Lots of plastic bags were blowing up in the air, this combined with the graffiti, wasn't a good start and reinforced our previous first impressions. This wasn't the 'norm' for a Spanish pueblo in the Ronda area.
It was lunchtime in Spain, 2-3pm is when nearly all workers stop for a fairly substantial meal. 
The streets weren't as pretty as we were used to.
However the church is impressive. It dominates the plaza area in the centre of town. The plaza is also a serious traffic bottleneck, if anybody parks inconsiderately, which unfortunately does happen occasionally in Spain ...
It is worth visiting Algodonales for this view alone.
Just over the road from the church is the Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) of Algodonales. The flags were flying in the breeze, they were very dirty and needed washing.
This is the street just passed the Ayuntamiento.
Some houses were of red brick others of yellow, some were rendered and painted the usual white, most were different and it felt very disjointed.
The church has a very Muslim feel with the minaret style tower. The sandy yellow paintwork and red tiles also have a Moroccan influence.
Lots of fairly new houses at the edges of the pueblo.
Yet more fairly recent housing spreads out sideways at the edges of Algodonales.
The countryside and crag above the town are very beautiful.
This is a small Ermita Virgen de la Sierra on the hillside above Algodonales.
We followed signs for the Fuente Bajo which is the lower fountain. there was plenty of water for the residents but it wasn't a pretty sight.
The Public Laundry next door was also disappointing. It contained three large ugly concrete 'baths' however again there was an excellent flow of water.
Overall we weren't impressed with Algodonales. It has a great church, too much litter, graffiti, and traffic. The newer houses follow no pattern and the place feels a little rough, quite grimy and very bitty. Algodonales probably has great fiestas ...