This place, super chill.
Be prepared to hike uphill for quite some time. In order to get here in Álora (Malaga) one has to take a train, a bus, and then climb up a mountain side to even get into town. It is best if you have a guide but not impossible if you're on your own. It is easy to navigate once in town, near the main square. The whole town feels like you would have seen it 40 or more years ago. This is not anything like the coastal town shops full of tourists. You'll have to break out the Español around these parts.
After the long trek to get here, this wonderful restaurant/bar has an amazing view of the valley. Outside on the narrow streets there is one sign of the establishment's name and it is built like a speakeasy where there is no visible storefront. There is an empty, small and darken foyer like room that you enter but keep walking till you get to a set of stairs going down.
As I entered, the restaurant was fairly full considering it was right before siesta. I was lucky to get a table overlooking the expansive vistas. I immediately ordered a local orange soda and their tinto de verano (red wine with limón) and two more shortly after. In this town, lemons, oranges and olives rule. They placed these house made garlicky, rosemary olives, bread, and the town's local olive oil onto the table. I could've been happy with just that. Those were devoured instantly. I didn't ask for more because I knew what was coming.
Here, several courses is the way to go. From pasta, soup, calamari, pork stew, empanadas, and dessert, everything tasted from scratch, simply delicious. Nothing was left on our plates and it was quite a bit of food. All this for about 10 euros per person.
Ten, yo. TEN!
And they take card.
It made all that damn hiking worth it. Thankfully to get back to the train it's all downhill baby! read more
