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| According to its townhall, Canillas de Albaida is The Pearl of the Axarquia. Rose Jones gives us a guided tour. Canillas de Albaida is 5 minutes drive from Cómpeta and about 2 minutes from Archez.
When we lived in the former and had friends in the latter it was a good place for a breather when rambling back from late-night drinking session. It would have been very romantic if there weren’t still drivers with cars shaking to DUB-DUBBA-DUBBA, weaving drunkenly along the same route. But eventually we came to Canillas for itself. |
According to its townhall, Canillas de Albaida is The Pearl of the Axarquia. Rose Jones gives us a guided tour. Canillas de Albaida is 5 minutes drive from Cómpeta and about 2 minutes from Archez. When we lived in the former and had friends in the latter it was a good place for a breather when rambling back from late-night drinking session. It would have been very romantic if there weren’t still drivers with cars shaking to DUB-DUBBA-DUBBA, weaving drunkenly along the same route. But eventually we came to Canillas for itself.
And Canillas is certainly worth a visit. It has, in my unbiased opinion, the best collection of restaurants in one town in the whole of the Axarquia, super-easy access to the natural park, a surprising range of facilities, and absolutely fantastic views. What’s more, as you come into it from Cómpeta, it’s exceptionally beautiful: you can see why the call it The Pearl.
For a fairly small village it’s surprisingly rich in facilities. There are three small supermarkets, a doctor’s, two internet cafés (one Spanish, one English), a soon-to-be-opened sports centre, a football pitch to rival Cómpeta’s and for the summer the best, biggest and cheapest municipal swimming-pool you can find. It’s also the start and end point for the three buses that do a daily return trip to the coast and into Málaga.
If come in from Cómpeta, you pass the first two café bars on the right (there’s a car park between them if you want to stop), both pleasant places for a drink or snack. Next there’s a kiddies playground and then a mini-roundabout, from which there’s a road uphill (right) and downhill (left), but go straight across and you’re in the main car park.
This is where they hold the Monday market. It’s also the main venue for fiestas: there’s room for stages, bars, dancing and even the bumper-cars and bouncy-castles. In February all the animals gather here to be blessed for San Anton; at Easter the parade comes through it. On one side is the primary school; on the other the incipient sports centre and the doctor’s surgery. Just near the mini roundabout is the ‘Guardal-Info’ computer centre and recycling bins (they’re everywhere, aren’t they?) and on the other side, there’s a chemist’s.
Let’s do a loop round the village. Being lazy, we’ll head downhill first. Steeply down we go, past the school, a bank and two supermarkets, one on each side of the road. Here there’s a cross-roads: you can carry on, turn left downhill towards Archez (past more recycling bins!), take a slight right towards the main square or go sharp right uphill back to the car park.
A few yards down the Archez road is the Piscina bar, a lively pub with a pool table and an ancient table football. On summer Sundays they roast chicken and cook chips and paella on an outside kitchen by the shaded tables, but I mainly go in the week for the splendid big swimming pool further in. It’s hardly ever crowded and quite cheap: it’s just a pity it’s only open when the schools close.
But we aren’t stopping here today! If you pass the Archez turn-off, you could go right, down an alley. Halfway along behind a mirror-door is Pacha Albaida, an Aladdin’s den of ‘artesanía’: craft worked goods and traditionally made soaps: nice present stuff. Carry on along the alleyway, and past the right hand steps to the other Internet Café and you get to the town square, complete with fountain, Posada, Town hall, Church and Plaza Restaurant. As well as tables in the square the restaurant has a tiny bar and another two floors above it: the top has brilliant views of the valley. The food is good, Sunday lunches are popular, and on summer evenings it’s a nice spot to sit and relax with a glass of wine.
But we don’t want to go to the Plaza: we won’t go left or right at the crossroads but carry straight on. And here is, oh-my-goodness, another one, the Cerezo bar. The big main bar areas is busy with card players but inside there’s seating and a very popular suntrap terrace, where they serve a traditional menu for reasonable prices. I believe the Gambas al Pil Pil is particularly good.
We go on along the road and, low-and-behold, the houses stop, there’s a low wall, and a long green railing and – what a view! Beyond a slope of avocado trees and a glimpse of the swimming pool, (look to the left, there’s the pretty Hermita of San Anton), you can see Archez in the valley bottom and the deep green of the river course, picked out by the gaudy hot pink of flowering oleander bushes in summer. You see the hill slopes and spurs: there’s Corumbela on the right. Beyond that is the Med. The whole vista gives a wonderful sense of space and of being right in the country, with room to breathe!
On again and, passing the post office, at another left turn is another bar-restaurant, a very nice one: The Almijara. The bar itself is roomy and attractive, there’s a few outside tables and, down some steps a lovely secluded patio area. The food, both tapas and a la carte is good, and the service friendly. Canillas really is choc-a-bloc with restaurants!
Keep going: we pass Rosario’s, a densely-packed little supermarket, and then the road curves to the right and starts to climb. Now we are regretting starting off downhill. To our left is the deep drop of the river gorge; ahead La Maroma looms dramatically. We pass a handsome cemetery: that’s the last building on the left. What do you mean, you can’t breathe? We’ve a way to go yet! As we pant to the top of the slope, we find a craggy rock-face rising on our right: this is crowned with Santa Ana, another Hermita and an icon of the village: it’s instantly recognisable from a distance. We come panting up to find the road does a hairpin round the end of its gardens. There is a continuation of the road too: this turns into a nice level track into the Natural Park and the Fabrica de la Luz; there’s another towards the football pitch, and the pretty goat-path walk to Cómpeta. But we take the hairpin and walk back with Santa Ana to our right and a long water deposit on our left. The water in this is so clean, frogs live in it, and its presence makes the flat space beside the church ideal for the Fiesta de Espuma in August – once you you’ve danced yourself silly in the foam, you jump into the water trough to clean off!
Now we are rolling downhill again. About halfway down the Santa Ana road, on our left, is my favourite restaurant: Restaurante Albaida. There are a couple of tables outside, and inside it has a handsome small bar and a decent sized restaurant. Most importantly, it has an excellent menu, all cooked by the best chef in the valley. They are currently serving midweek lunches that are really good value, and they do special nights most months with a themed menu and music, though you normally need to book for these. Oh, and there’s music in the bar on Sunday evenings. Now, I know I am biased: I like Joe and Nicola, and besides, being veggie, I appreciate a more varied menu than usual. But I’m sure I’ll have convinced you to at least try it, and the other venues out, by now.
We’ve nearly done. A little further and, next to more recycling bins, and a paved area with another nice view (back up to Santa Ana) is a sharp right turn more steeply downhill. Follow this and we find ourselves back in the car park. Now you’ve seen The Pearl. When are you coming back, for another walk, and a beer?
