Like Frigiliana, Competa is an historic village located within the rugged Sierra Almijara of the Axarquia district of Andalucia, southern Spain. Although road access is somewhat tortuous, Competa seems equally popular with expatriates as Frigiliana where we were based, just north of the coastal highway. Competa is certainly a charming flower bedecked old town with its main plaza dominated by a magnificent 16th century church. Read more.

Not far from Competa, Canillas de Albaida is a spectacularly positioned small village, its population measured in the hundreds.

Almost lost in the Sierra Almijara behind Frigiliana, the tiny village of El Acebuchal was brutally destroyed by Franco's forces in the final stages of the Spanish Civil War. It has since been rebuilt, largely through the efforts of one couple.