PueblosBlancosDiscoveryTours: Autumn in Serrania de Ronda

The villages of Cartajima and Júzcar

Prologue:

Serranía de Ronda in autumn is especially beautiful. As if by magic the countryside changes colour from grayish-green to lush and vivid greens as the we approach the rainy season. More spectacularly changes are taken place by the chestnut trees as their leafs turn into autumn colours and finally shed their leafs in winter. Throughout the river valley of Genal you find vast orchards of Chestnut trees (Castaños) which have been grown and cultivated here by local communities for centuries.
Soon after you leave the coast by San Pedro Alcántara and head towards Ronda, you find yourself driving through Pine forests. The road winds itself higher and higher and the countryside gets more mountainous. To the right you see the mountains of Sierra de las Nieves and to the left the lush Valle de Genal. There are 15 villages scattered in the Genal valley of Serranía de Ronda region, seen as white dots nestling among the Aleppo pine and chestnut trees.

We chose to visit the villages of Cartajima, Júzcar and Alpandeire.

It is a very scenic drive and you can make it into a circular tour as we have done.

Directions:

Drive from Marbella A-7 towards San Pedro Alcántara.
Exit the A-7 at San Pedro Alcántara and drive towards Ronda A-397.
When you reach the plateau after about 50 minutes you see the Leather Factory on the right side of the road and a sign indicating the Route of Fray Leopoldo (Ruta del Legado de Fray Leopoldo) which you will follow.
At the junction you turn left onto MA-7306 and towards the villages of Cartajima (6 km/12 minutes) and Júzcar (10,5 km/20 minutes).
The round trip takes 3h 40min without stops (174km).

A narrow country road winds itself alongside the barren limestone mountains of Oreganal and the cliffs of Los Riscos on the right side of the road and the deep more lusher valleys on the left side.

We looked across the valley and we recognized the village of Parauta as it nestled between the Chestnut trees on a hillside.

This is a typical view of a Pueblo Blanco in the Serranía de Ronda region.

What an idyllic setting for a Finca (farmhouse).

In the distance you can see the Sierra de las Nieves (Snowy mountains) and the Sierra Bermejas.

After 6 km and about 12 minutes we reached the village of Cartajima.

The village of Cartajima is situated at a height of 846 m above sea level and is the highest village of the Málaga Province. Cartajima stands in a very dramatic landscape in the Upper Genal. To the north you see the bare and inhospitable limestone cliff of Cartajimalos riscos and to the south deep valleys with Chestnut orchards, Cork oaks and Pine forests and green pastures. The scenic views which surrounds the village are stunning. Especially in autumn and winter when you can see the snow caped mountains of the Sierra de las Nieves with its highest peak of 1919 meters.

At the viewpoint at the beginning of the village you can inform yourself about the wildlife you are able to see in this region.

The contrasts of colours must be an artists dream.

The village of Cartajime form a distance.

The views south from the village and towards the coast.

Just one of the viewpoints (Mirador Cuenca Alta del Genal)

Cartajima has still the Islamic layout of its narrow, winding streets. Some old facades date back to 18th century. These houses must have been built during an age of great prosperity and some important acts occurred in the town, including the remodeling of the parish church. This prosperity was caused by vine-growing and most of all, the extraction of iron for the cannons of Jimena de la Frontera. This economic strength caused the population of the village to rise, reaching 1500 inhabitants, which gave it the nickname Little Cádiz (Cádiz el Chico).

Iglesia de Ntra. Sra. del Rosario

Casa "Las Piedras"

Back on the road we drive leisurely towards the village of Júzcar.

You drive through chestnut orchards and cork oak trees.

After 5 minutes you see the sign Los Riscos which indicates to the hike up the mountain. We will leave the hike for another time.

Our next stop is the village of Júzcar or better known as

the "Smurf village" or just the "Blue village".

The story behind why this village is painted "blue" and not white like all the others in Andalucia is a recent one.

Since June 2011 Júzgar became the first ever "Smurf Town" in the world. Due to Sony Picture and the production of a Smurf movie the village was painted smurf blue, even the church and town hall. Sony has promised to repaint the houses back to the original colour "Andalucían White" afterwards but the inhabitants enjoying the influx of tourism voted to stay Smurf Blue.

At this point I would like to mention that we were happy to see that Júzcar has kept its original charm, even so approx. 250 tourist are visiting daily.

It is amazing to see how the whole village was transformed into the Smurf scene. It certainly was a good idea to my mind because not only families will be attracted to this beautiful region of Serranía de Ronda and therefor learn about the nature and history of this region.