Costa del Sol
Ojen
Ojén has roughly the same population as Benahavís, 2000, but it has not attracted the attention of wealthy expatriates as the latter village has done and, like Istán, has somehow conspired to remain relatively unspoiled in spite of its accessibility and the madcap whirl around it.
It is situated beside the Almadán stream above the valley of the Rio Real at an altitude of 650ft, hemmed in by the sierras Blanca and Alpujata. In that, we may have a clue to the Moors' determination to stay in spite of their apparent antipathy, for both ranges of mountains have long been known as rich sources of talc, nickel, iron and lead. This mineral wealth put the area in the forefront of the Spanish industrial revolution of the 19th Century.
Today, Ojén is a curiously schizophrenic town, neatly cut in half by a modern highway. On one side of the road, the newer, more affluent half rises into the hills around the stunted, almost invisible vestigial remains of the Moorish castle which in its heyday dominated the skyline. The village survived the reconquest, but the castle predictably did not. The few stones that are left are now scattered among weeds and rough grass, home only to insects and beetles, and scarcely worth the climb to see.
Ojén is not the most beautiful of the mountain villages, nor the most historic, but it is peaceful and pleasant and well worth a visit. A far cry from the harsh and bitter place its Arab founders described.