Jubrique
Written by Geoff Forster
Jubrique: We traveled back down the road from Genalguacil and turned onto the old Estepona mountain road that runs past Jubrique. We can see Jubrique across the valley from the sun terrace of the apartment we have to let in Benarrabá. At night we see it lit up and can see the headlights of cars traveling up this road over the top to Los Reales.
As we arrived in Jubrique I was a little surprised and disconcerted to see the road widen and to see the painted white lines indicating parking bays. The buildings on the left were huge compared to normal village houses. We parked opposite a bar (forward planning!) and set off up the hill to explore Jubrique. It was around 3pm and it was a lovely July afternoon .. hot. The street narrowed and twisted, there was a sun bleached door, flaking paintwork, walls with texture, there was a sense of relief that this was still a 'real' Spanish pueblo, after the surreal whiteness and tidiness of Genalguacil, Jubrique was just being its natural self.
Down the narrow street we got a glimpse of the lovely church in the plaza. 



This fantastic stairway narrows from about 2 metres at the bottom to under 1 metre wide at the top, exaggerating the perspective. Still going up though!
We finally reached the top! Instead of a pool with a bar we found ... a scruffy little shrine full of old faded plastic flowers. Not even worth a photograph.
This view from the top shows how steep the pueblo is. The new buildings spoil the shot but we'd climbed up for about ten minutes in the July sun ... just for this photograph.
Still we had seen a bar in the plaza and it was all downhill!!
The Ayuntamiento (Town Hall) is on the opposite side of the plaza to the church. As you can see it is a very lovely building/setting. On and upwards ... a builder tries to sell me a house/ruin he's renovating. I think he wanted 36.000 euros. It looked to be a very small ruin for that price. We asked if there was a bar up the hill, he said there was one in the swimming pool. We headed up & up. The plaque above was on the outside of this house. Wouldn't want to live in it but its great to photograph or paint.
At the end of the plaza we turned to climb up. A wonderful little street with a series of tunnels with wooden beamed roofs and a maze of narrow side streets and doorways.
As we approached what we thought was the top of the village, the street was being excavated. Not to be denied our cervezas by the pool we picked our way across the broken surface and headed up.
Jubrique is about the steepest pueblo we've been to.
Back down we found a few tile plaques and a small shrine planted with lovely shade loving plants. We also found the bar. We never did find the swimming pool.
We found Jubrique to be a lovely place, very steep, very Spanish, a real working village and a remarkable contrast to the surreal village of Genalguacil. We got in the car and headed for the top of the Sierra Bermeja and the 'Mirador' of Los Reales.
Hi, just to let you know you missed the pool by about 100 metres!! As you pass the “…scruffy little shrine full of old faded plastic flowers…” at the top of the village, the road up curves round. The pool is just past this bend on the right (have a look on Google Earth – it’s very clear). I hope you visit again and you’ll enjoy your cerveza by the pool (excellent tapas too)