Today we took a trip, recom- mended by our hosts, to nu- merous moun- tain villages to the north and west of Frigiliana, on a route known as the Rutas des Mudejar (Route of the Moors). These fortified mountain villages were the last holdouts of Moorish power in Spain and remained Moorish under Christian rule for many decades in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Inhabitants eventually rebelled against their treatment by the Catholic monarchs and after a futile battle, they were killed or expelled.
We took a very winding road from Frigiliana to Torrox, Archez, Competa, Salares, Sedella and Canillas de Aceituno, then returned via the main Velez-Malaga road. Our favorite village was Salares, perhaps because we spent the most time wandering its streets. This village is comprised of square houses that are Moorish in construction, plastered and whitewashed and still inhabited today. Many homes are intact, some have been modified and a few buildings in town are modern. Salares is clean and neat, with narrow, steep, cobblestone streets, pleasant courtyards, a couple of bars, a church and a store.
Aside from a bartender, we met two other people, a couple of Brits doing some tile repair work on their quaint little Mudejar summer home. Outstanding, in all of these little villages, is the abundance of flowers which adorn the whitewashed homes.
Today we took a trip, recom- mended by our hosts, to nu- merous moun- tain villages to the north and west of Frigiliana, on a route known as the Rutas des Mudejar (Route of the Moors). These fortified mountain villages were the last holdouts of Moorish power in Spain and remained Moorish under Christian rule for many decades in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Inhabitants eventually rebelled against their treatment by the Catholic monarchs and after a futile battle, they were killed or expelled.
We took a very winding road from Frigiliana to Torrox, Archez, Competa, Salares, Sedella and Canillas de Aceituno, then returned via the main Velez-Malaga road. Our favorite village was Salares, perhaps because we spent the most time wandering its streets. This village is comprised of square houses that are Moorish in construction, plastered and whitewashed and still inhabited today. Many homes are intact, some have been modified and a few buildings in town are modern. Salares is clean and neat, with narrow, steep, cobblestone streets, pleasant courtyards, a couple of bars, a church and a store. 
Aside from a bartender, we met two other people, a couple of Brits doing some tile repair work on their quaint little Mudejar summer home. Outstanding, in all of these little villages, is the abundance of flowers which adorn the whitewashed homes.
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