How I Spent My First Día de la Hispanidad
Views from my first hike in the Sierra de Mijas
Día de la Hispanidad (National Day of Spain), celebrated on October 12, fell during my second week teaching English as an auxiliar de conversación in Fuengirola. This year, it fell on a Wednesday, so schools were closed for the celebration.
When schools close, auxiliares get the day off of work. Being my second week of class, Día de la Hispanidad in 2022 was my first day off.
Since we all had the day off, some auxiliar friends and I went up to Mijas Pueblo to go for a hike in the Sierra Mjias. Mijas Pueblo is a picturesque Spanish village of white buildings tucked into the mountains. From the town, you can see stunning views of the coastline tucked between rolling hills.
But to be honest, the hike didn’t begin at the trailhead—the hike began where the bus dropped us off in the center of town. From there, it was about a fifteen minute walk uphill to the trailhead. And a walk through Mijas Pueblo involves some serious elevation change, to the point where the town streets include frequent stairs for pedestrians.
After walking uphill through the town, we started our official hike at the Accesso Rutas Sierra Mijas. At the trailhead, there’s a board with a map of the trails. Luckily, in the area we explored, the trails are pretty well marked with blazes and signs. Here’s a photo of the map of trails that was shown on the day we hiked:
A map of the hiking trails in the Sierra de Mijas We did the loop that included blue and white markers, and then on the way back down we took a service road that forked off where the red trail meets the white trail. Our hike followed this path:
The path for my first hike in the Sierra de MijasPlease note, we started and ended our hike at the checkered dot. The green dot is the trailhead, where I began mapping/recording our hiking path. On the way back down, I continued mapping/recording our hike until we reached our final destination (the checkered dot) in Mijas Pueblo, because I decided that the walk through town counted as a hike.
On our way up, we heard some music and applause from the town center, and we looked down to see quite a large gathering of people. Seems like we missed out on some Día de la Hispanidad festivities. But we had a wonderful hike!
Our loop ended up being about three miles with 1000 feet of elevation gain. It was pretty steep in the beginning, but it ended up being one of the most gorgeous hikes I’ve ever done. The views were incredible.
On our way down, we happened to see some small mountain goats, too! What an incredible experience! Seeing the mountain goats made me feel even more grateful to visit and hike through such a beautiful and lively ecosystem.
Having grown up in Florida, I’ve never lived this close to the mountains. (I guess these are technically foothills, but they feel like mountains to me!) I’m loving living close to mountains, especially because these particular mountains have such breathtaking.
After just one trip to the Sierra de Mijas, I already planned to return for more hikes. As I’m writing this, I have indeed returned to this gorgeous mountain range to hike more! I’ll share about those outdoor adventures (and other nature exploration in Europe) soon!
Until then, take a hike! ;)
If you’re looking for more information about traveling to Mijas Pueblo (including recommendations for things to do), check out this post on my first visit to Mijas Pueblo.
