Benamahoma
Written by Geoff Forster
Benamahoma: We left Benarrabá at around 1pm on a beautiful late October afternoon.
We drove through the pista forestal between Estación Gaucín and Cortes de la Frontera. We then took the A373 road to Ubrique and then drove onto El Bosque. A fantastic drive through some beautiful countryside. We saw lots of wildlife and the scenery is stunning.
After a lovely walk around El Bosque we drove on to Benamahoma.
This is the limestone crag above the pueblo. 
We parked at the bottom of the pueblo near the Rio Majaceite. the river banks were so overgrown that the small stream couldn't be seen.
We started to walk up a fairly steep slope. We passed some large and impressive detached houses on the way up. One had a rill around the perimeter and was very nicely planted. You can see a corner of the garden in the photograph below. 
We continued the climb up. 
It wasn't as far or as steep as we thought it was going to be.
Like El Bosque most of the houses had been modernised. This building is very attractive. It is modern and has obvious Moorish elements. The minute hand on the clock is a saif (curved arab sword). 
The iron gateway leads to a small Christian shrine.
This is the shrine inside the building. 
We went in search of the church. On the way we found this very small but permanent bullring. It is very unusual for a small pueblo to have a permanent ring. What was even more unusual was that a street ran through the middle. 
Here's Jane ... well she scares me! 
We walked across the sand of the bullring. We found the small but pretty church next to the bullring. 
The church was open. 
A pleasant little church. 
There were two niches halfway down the church with these statues in them. 
Outside the church was a small plazoleta. 
The view down the valley to the Rio. 
Above Benamahoma on a small limestone outcrop was a crucifix. 
This is a photograph across the plazoleta to the church and bullring. 
The bullring. 
A Plaque in the bullring of Antonio Román who donated funds for its construction. 
From the other side. 
We walked along a street at the top of the pueblo.
There were lots of holiday homes and rentals. So many that the population must increase significantly at weekends and during the holiday periods. 
A little further down the pueblo this pretty tree lined street. 
Lots of pueblos have pretty ceramic tile plaques on walls. We found these two in Benamahoma. 
The Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) of Benamahoma. 
A small plaza with palm trees offered good views of the valley. 
The first democratically elected mayor of Benamahoma was honoured with this plaque. 
It was a lovely evening. We enjoyed the sunshine in the pretty plaza. 
We walked down to the car and took this view of Benamahoma from the road to Grazalema. 
We liked Benamahoma. The church was lovely. The bullring a surprise.
We were concerned by the amount of houses and apartments available to tourists. Far too many. At times the village (like El Bosque and Grazalema) must be over run with holidaymaker's. It must change the character of the pueblo.