Ubrique
Written by Geoff Forster
Ubrique: We'd headed out from Benarrabá on a 'Vulture Hunt' We'd driven from the Genal Valley and took the A373 across the Rio Guadiaro through Cortes de la Frontera and carried onto Ubrique.
Stopping a few times on the way to admire the views.
The Sierra de Libar and the Sierra de Ubrique are fantastic. The area is heavily wooded with mainly Cork Oak a renewable resource used for insulation, tiles and corks for wine bottles. (Please ... don't buy wine with plastic corks).
The grey rocky outcrops make a wonderful contrast with the green valleys and blue skies. This area is the Parque Natural de Grazalema. 
This next photograph is of a lovely horse on the side of the hill a few yards down the road on the right hand side in photograph above.We parked the car on the wide and busy main road into town.
This photograph of a Griffon Vulture was taken from the same piece of road outside Ubrique on the A373. There were around thirty flying around and perched in the trees on the hillside.
Ubrique is a large town. It is a sprawling pueblo on both sides of a fold in the Sierra de Ubrique. There are several very large urbanisation housing developments that have been and are being built.
It has a large leather goods industry with lots of shops in the town.
It is a very busy place with heavy traffic for the size of the streets, both cars and lots of very annoying mopeds and scooters.
We parked the car on the wide and busy main road into town.
We walked along, passing a rare grassed area on top of a retaining wall. Behind the hedge was a plaza with palms and a small church.
Jane was pleased to find this shop. I was pleased to see the owner driving off to get her lunch. She looked a little surprised to see her shop being photographed.
Having missed a chance to check out the 50% off Sale at the United Colors of Benetton shop.
Things took another turn for the worse for poor Jane when I spotted a church high up on the side of the Sierra above the town.
"Oh no" she sighed, knowing that any interesting building at the top of a town has to be visited and always means a long steep climb. the first photo. 
We took the road on the right in the photograph above and started the climb into the old town.
The first photograph is up the street.
The second photograph is of a niche on the side of a house where the palm tree is on.
This is looking further up the street and shows the wonderful outcrop of the Sierra de Ubrique above the town. 
The next shot is down a pretty side street and shows some the new building developments (urbanisations) on the other side of town.
We were still climbing, the streets were old typically Spanish.
the second photograph shows a rock that has been used as a wall by the houses either side. 
We climbed further and were rewarded with this view across the town. We had climbed behind and above the church of San Antonio.
(Sorry Jane)
Walking down from the church we found this old Ermita.
We found the Ayuntamiento de Ubrique (Town Hall) in a lovely plaza. The next few shots are of the Ayuntamiento, a fountain, a unusual tiled house (now a solicitors) and a view back up to the front facade of the church de San Antonio.
All taken in the plaza. 
We walked down this lovely street to the newer area of town.
There are lots of leather businesses, shops, bars, restaurants, small industrial workshops and a lot of building development in the newer parts of Ubrique ... we had a meal and left for Benarrabá.
The old town of Ubrique is steep and still has the feel of a mountain pueblo. Ubrique must have been a wonderful place thirty plus years ago.