Monda is located some 10 miles from Marbella just past Ojen along the A355; it is a charming town very popular with tourists as well as for those who have in recent years started a new life living in the sun.
The town has a good range of amenities and facilities such as bars, shops, restaurants, medical centre as well as schools. You will not find any large supermarkets in Monda, it remains traditional and typically Spanish in many ways, this includes the way people shop.
In traditional towns and villages, if you want meat you go to the butcher, the baker for your bread and the greengrocers for your fruits and veggies. Monda, just like most towns and villages throughout Spain has a weekly market; this is held every Tuesday in the car park by the wash house near to La Jaula bar.
A lot of the markets offer similar products such as vegetables, CD’s, DVD’d and clothes, however; there are some exceptions to the rules too by more entrepreneurial market traders.
One of the most prominent features which is very hard to miss is the Monda castle which is perched high up over Monda overlooking the town.
There are records of the castle being in existence as a fortress as far back as the 13th century, Monda’s history is rumoured to pre-date this by many centuries and back to 45 BC. Having witnessed numerous battles and many changes over the centuries, monad castle or Castillo de Monda is run as a hotel catering for numerous wedding venues and celebrations.
Monda is surrounded by the Sierras de Las Nieves to one side and to the other the Alpujatas, both of which provide a dramatic backdrop to this town so close the hub of activities on the Costa del Sol, yet up in the hills and surrounded by unspoilt nature, clean crisp air and a more sedate way of life.
One of the major contributors to the local economy in Monda are olives, as you approach the town you will notice vast olive groves which are well maintained and cared for by the local farmer and workforce. At the entrance to Monda, you will find an olive press where farmers as well as individuals take their crops for pressing into olive oil. This service is open to individuals by a few hundred kilos of olives, right across to the farmer with a few tonnes.
The town is well kept and the locals are proud of their town, traditions and way of life, this is why you will find that many families have lived here for generations and many foreigners who moved to Monda still remain there many years later.
Photo credit: Hermann Haf