Competa stays hidden from view until the final twist in a torturous road which hugs the mountainsides between Malaga and Granada. It is quite a large town for these parts with all you'd expect for a place on the tourist trail: hotels, shops, bars and English people.
Walking through the central plaza and it sounded as though everyone in earshot was British. Here you can see the colourful church tower which is about the only building in town not painted white. For a couple of euros you can see the sanctuary and treasury, plus climb a few dozen steps up the belltower for views over the town and down into the plaza below.
From here you can tell the town has grown quite a bit of late, with orange groves being flattened for flats and a hotel, but there are also vital services like a modern school and hospital which must be a lifeline for the local residents.Competa is famous for its blossom honey and a sweet wine made from muscatel grapes. In the middle of August each year they roll barrels of wine into the plaza for a huge party.
Despite all this, the hill towns of Spain cannot compete with those in Italy. Most of the churches are almost bare of decoration and/or completely modernised. Not many of the towns were fortified so there are rarely castles or walls to explore. Centuries of a hardscrabble existence meant there was not the money for palaces full of art, tapestries and sculpture.
What you will find in these types of towns are a friendly welcome, a relaxed pace of life, lots of fresh air and a sense of tranquility.
On our visit the only thing to do in Competa was wander the stepped streets, which are lined with thousands of flower pots...
...plus the occasional snoozing dog! Sometimes all you need is a quiet spot to curl up in the sun in order to enjoy life to the full.
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