location and geography
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Click here to download a location map. For more detailed travel information including driving directions from Malaga airport, please see travel tips (coming soon). Set in the southern Spanish region of Andalucia, Casa de Luz is situated in the small hamlet of el Romo in the Axarquia district, which is known locally for its benign climate.
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The property is set on the crest of a high ridge in the Montes de Malaga, in the almond and olive growing hills inland and north-east of Malaga. Although Malaga airport is only a 50 minute drive away, the surroundings are entirely rural. The Casa straddles the ridge that stretches south east from Colmenar towards Comares, a famous Moorish mountain-top village, which, although closer as the crow flies, is remote on a high buff looking down on el Romo from a kilometre away. |
To the south of the Casa is a stunning view across a steep valley that drops sharply to a river hidden far below, then rises to Comares on the cliffs above. To the north, the view across the fertile Axarquia valleys is also stunning, but more gentle and extensive. The olive and almond groves slope downward from the back terrace to another river far below. Beyond, there are orange and lemon groves. Olives and almonds grow in the low hills that stretch some fifteen kilometres across the hilly floor of a giant bowl to the mountain ridges of Sierras de Alhama, de Tejeda and de Almijara that form the northern horizon. It is this high mountain ridge on one side and the sea on the other that protects Axarquia from the excesses of heat in summer and cold in winter.
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| view to the north and from the back terrace of the casa |
attractions and amenities
Of the many historic towns and villages of Andalucia, Colmenar is the most accessible, 15 minutes drive away. Comares is about 20 minutes, Antequera three quarters of an hour, Alhama de Granada an hour, Granada and Priego de Cordoba an hour and a half, Ronda and Cordoba, Ubeda and Baeza, Sevilla, Jerez, Cadiz and Jaen between two and a half and three hours.|
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The beaches, golf courses, shops and innumerable bars, clubs and restaurants of the coastal resorts are forty minutes away at Torre del Mar or Malaga. There are countless bars and restaurants much nearer in Colmenar, Casbermeja and Lake Vinuela, with some of the best scattered around the countryside.
For local shopping, nearby Colmenar has all the basics, as well as several restaurants. If you want to get your shopping done in one go there is a huge hypermarket, Eroski, between Velez Malaga and Torre del Mar, around forty minutes away, with an excellent range of fresh fish and wine.
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| nearby historic comares and wild flowers |
For bird watchers and naturalists, there are many interesting birds, butterflies and wonderful wild flowers, each in their season, that can be viewed from the terraces of the Casa or by strolling along the tracks that radiate from the house. A family of wild boar is said to have been seen in the valley, just fifteen minutes easy walk below. Above, bee eaters are common in summer, swallows will visit you in the house and eagles will circle overheard, waiting to stoop on their less wary chicks.
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For nature-lovers and walkers, the woods of Montes de Malaga, the Sierra de Alhama, the Sierra de Tejeda and the strange limestone outcrops of the Torcal de Antequera are thirty to fifty minutes drive away, each different in flora and fauna. In two hours or so, you can reach the grander, wilder mountains in the national parks of the Sierra Nevada, Sierra Nieves, Grazalema and Las Alpujarras. Two and a half hours should get you to the Cazorla and three to the Parque Nacional de Donana, a world famous site for migrating birds and rare creatures, including lynx. |
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| torcal de antequera |
Information resources concerning nearby towns and attractions can be found in the links page (coming soon).
