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Cartajima: We set off from Benarrabá one beautiful August morning we had traveled along the A369 Algeciras to Ronda road and then turned onto the A376 San Pedro de Alcántara road for a few kilometres before turning onto the road to Parauta and Cartajima.
We had just visited the lovely pueblo of Parauta, we now headed for Cartajima. This was the fifteenth and the last of the Genal Valley pueblos to visit, so it was with a little regret we drove along the narrow mountain road to Cartajima. Hopefully we'd saved the best until last!
We drove into town passed the deserted swimming pool and a lot of building work. The streets were quiet, bunting fluttered in the light breeze. We found the Ayuntamiento and the church together with impressive fairly recently renovated brick steps between them. We were standing outside the church when this lovely dog popped out from the foliage plants. Most dogs are wary of strangers this one was a very friendly exception. We set off to walk around the pueblo, with our new friend following a few steps behind.
There are some great rocky outcrops above Cartajima. We spotted a splash of colour in a street above and headed up to the large Bougainvillea flowering next to a seat above the town. Jane loves Bougainvillea! Our little friend was having trouble with a large labrador from a nearby house, it was all fairly friendly but quite noisy. We walked down into the streets of Cartajima, our faithful friend was still following.
This house is a renovation project for someone with a lot of imagination and a lot of money! I was beginning to realise we were running out of pueblo and I hadn't taken many photos. The next two shots are of the streets in Cartajima. What a difference a few geraniums in pots would have made! We did find this long and orange tree lined street. Notice that not one of the houses has one pot of flowers outside or on their balconies ... The owner of this house, wins the prettiest house in Cartajima competition. (Sole entry!) What a difference a few flowers and foliage plants can make. I spotted this alley way on the way back to the car. I was seriously worried that I wouldn't have enough photographs for this web page! Well we left Cartajima a little disappointed. It was bland and boring very like Faraján.
Like Faraján there were hardly any houses with flowers outside. Strangely also like Faraján we walked around the streets of Cartajima for over an hour and couldn't find a bar!
The best thing about Cartajima and our most lasting memory of the pueblo .... Our little friend followed us for an hour only to desert us for a dish of paella someone had left in their yard. Which was just as well, as leaving him behind as we drove off in the car would have been very hard.
All Cartajima needs to be as pretty as some of the other Genal pueblos is a good Garden Centre and a more obvious bar!