Yunquera visit

With all my Sunday preparations behind me, I had a free day, so I drove up-country on the A366 road in the direction of Ronda to visit the hill town of Yunquera, population just over 3,000, at the heart of the Sierra de las Nieves ´biosphere reserve' - a title upgrade from 'parque natural', used for other large expanses of land set aside from further explotation for recreation. The title indicates international recognition for the uniqueness of the region's biodiversity and the efforts in place to conserve it and manage it for receational purposes. It's the highest town in the province of Malaga.

It's exactly and hour´s journey from La Cala de Mijas, with a winding climb on a road in excellent condition, sheer pleasure in good conditions. I had the pretext of a pastoral visit to one of our inland parishioners. Quite a number of expatriates have moved further inland to enjoy a lifestyle encompassed in exquisite rural beauty, not to mention lower property prices. Apparently there are about 200 Brits in the local population. 

For most of the year, up at 2000 feet, the climate is congenial, although it can rain and snow in winter.The town is quite self-contained, with shops retailing everything one could need, reducing the requirement to venture twenty miles downhill to Coin to supply what's lacking locally. The views of the surrounding peaks, and down towards the sea, thirty miles away, are spectacular. Coin and Alhaurin appear against the backdrop of the Sierra de Mijas like a white blur on the distant landscape.

We looked around the town, found the sixteenth century parish church of our Lady of the Incarnation open, to visitors as one of the processional trona was being fettled up ready for use in Passiontide.

In the church a seminarian, hailing from the town is buried, Juan Duarte, martyred in November 1936 during the Civil War, tortured, soaked in gasoline and burned alive, one of scores of victims among the faithful honoured by the Catholic church in 2007 at a beatification ceremony in Tarragona. The image of Jesús cautivo was on display here, as in Los Boliches. It has a different kind of resonance against the background of 20th century local history.

Many in Spain are reluctant to speak about the atrocities of the Civil War. The church gets criticised for reminding the world of victims of brutal partisan conflict. There were certainly perpetrators and victims on both sides. But the church celebrates those whose faith, no matter how conservative or radical they were, put their lives on the line in the face of hostility and hatred. Those denied their human rights, those denied justice solely because of their inheritance of faith, firmly adhered to, no matter what their social or political allegiances, should never be forgotten, no matter how politically inconvenient that may be.