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Benarrabá is the village we searched Andalucía to find.

We are so lucky to live here.
The village is wonderful.
The people are amazingly friendly, they have made us so welcome. Our neighbours give us bagfuls of fruit and vegetables. They have invited us into their homes and families, taken us to the beach, bareback horse riding (that was a laugh), they buy us drinks in the bars, they all always speak and smile ... fantastic people.

This first picture was taken on an early morning walk in May. There are lots of great walks in the area all well signposted.
The mists rise from the Genal and are quickly burnt of by the Andalucian sun.
The apartment we have to rent is the highest house on the extreme right. It has commanding views over Benarrabá and the Genal Valley.

The pretty plaza with a fountain in the centre is surrounded by orange trees, it is a nightly meeting point in summer for families.
It serves as a venue during the feria and flamenco festival.
There is also a small street market here every Friday.
The pretty church at the end is the Ermita de la Santa Vera Cruz.
Inside there is a magnificent Christ on the cross. Well worth seeing. Benarrabá is about 3km from the A369 Algeciras to Ronda road. The connecting road down to the village is very good. It has recently been resurfaced. The next photograph of Gibraltar and beyond to the Rif and Atlas mountains in Africa. It was taken from a viewing point above Benarrabá. The views around Benarrabá are stunning!!! The sun rises over the Sierra Bermeja which separates us from the Costa del Sol (30-40 minutes drive)
The second picture is of Benarrabá taken just a few minutes later as the sun hits the white walls of the pueblo.
Both photos were taken from the sun terrace of the apartment we have to rent in 2005. Benarrabá is famous locally for the friendliness of its people. It is very much a working Spanish pueblo.
There are a number of small 'corner' shops (5) which sell an amazing selection of food and goods. Plus there is a bread shop, butchers and fresh fish shop.
There is a bank, the manager speaks English and is very helpful.
There are two good restaurants plus some excellent tapas bars.
The photograph below was taken from the roof terrace of a friends house. Our apartment is top left. Benarrabá has two churches the pretty Ermita in the plaza and a larger church in the lower town.
The next few shots are of the church and its tower from different angles. The next photo is still of the church. There is a small niche high up on the front wall. This houses a statue of a Madonna and child. The next few shots are of streets and houses in Benarrabá.
The owners of this house had a pleasant surprise when they were preparing their house for a new coat of paint they were scraping of loose paint and noticed strange patterns appearing.
They had the old whitewash carefully removed to reveal this amazing original painted facade from a few hundred years ago! There is a wonderful mixture of old and renovated houses. The Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) is keen that any renovations are done in an Andalucian style.
Some of the older houses are wonderful, they have so much character. There is an area of very old uninhabited houses at the lowest part of the village. There are some great houses down here to photograph or for the many artists who come to Benarrabá to paint and draw. The next photograph was taken on the sun terrace of a friends house. It looks across the roofs of the houses in the plaza across the Genal Valley to the hills of the Sierra Bermeja. You can just make out the lovely pueblo of Alpandeire. This is the Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) not a grand building but then local rates are a tiny fraction of what you pay in the UK, less than £80 a year. (Streets are clean and household rubbish is collected from pick up points daily!) There is a Pandería (Bread bakery) in Benarrabá the bread is fantastic still warm when you buy it.
This little house is very near the Pandería the bougainvillea is in full bloom. I read Chris Stewart's excellent book 'Driving over Lemons' before we came to Andalucía.
Strangely we do actually drive over lemons everyday.
There is a huge lemon tree overhanging the road near our house. It drops at least ten lemons a day on to the road below. This is Benarrabá from the A369 road above the town.
As you can see the area is beautifully green and there are lots of trees even in the pueblo itself which is wonderful. This next picture shows a wooded lane very close to Benarrabá (less than 50m from the edge of the pueblo). There are a number of woodland lanes connecting nearby villages and going down to the River Genal.
The picture was taken at 2pm on a very sunny August afternoon. It shows it is possible to enjoy walks in the area and not be in direct sunlight too often.