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Frigiliana is a beautiful village not far from the coast in the Costa del Sol. If  you’re in the region of Nerja then it’s well worth a visit to see this fantastic little village.

It has won several prizes in recent years for best-preserved village and the National and Andalusian Prize for Beauty. With it’s pristine white washed houses and steep narrow streets lined with trees and displays of plants and flowers, it’s a great place to spend a leisurely day wandering around.

Recognition wanted by the villagers

Frigiliana hasn’t actually received it’s official categorisation as a ‘Cultural and Historic Preservation Site’ yet. The people of the village have been requesting some kind of recognition from the Junta de Andalucia, who award these categories, for quite a while now and feel it only fair to be given this status.

If you go and have a look around yourself I’m sure you’ll agree, this village is something special and definitely deserves the recognition it seeks.

A few years ago the the council of Marbella had planned to approach the Junta de Andalucia for funding and advice to build a footpath. This footpath was to start from the coast directly up into the foothills of the Sierra Blanca. Unfortunately nothing came of it.

Now, however the council have started to look at these plans again. As the mountains are so close to the city of Marbella they feel that this project will help attract even more people to the area.

The plan

The plan is for a footpath to start somewhere near the congress centre and to run parallel to the Guadalpin stream. This would then link up to the existing pathways already in place in the foothills. The need to go by car would then cease, and would allow more people to access this beautiful area on foot or bicycle.

The plans being considered will allow for a specific section for cyclists which will be around three kilometres long.

When will it start?

Well bearing in mind that this project was originally looked at a few years ago, when it will finally get off the ground is anyone’s guess. But the Andalusian Water Agency has already started to update the boundaries to the rivers and streams in the area, including the Guadalpin stream – so who knows.

I think it’s a brilliant idea, all that fresh air, excercise and beautifull countryside, I know Sue and I will use the footpaths alot if they open!

The Costa del Sol has been very badly hit in recent years by the slump in the housing market. Many developers have had to shut their businesses, whilst others have stopped developments mid build.

The unfortunate scandal of illegally built properties has only helped to escalate the problem, with thousands of new properties left empty and going into disrepair because they haven’t been given the official paperwork.

A good time to buy

The Junta de Andalucia have just launched a new website called (only in Spanish I’m afraid)  www.tuviviendaenandalucia.es They hope that by bringing a huge amount of  unsold properties onto one site, and by attracting buyers with special mortgage deals through the various banks and other financial institutions, that things will start to move again.

This initiative is only for 2010, so if you’re thinking of buying, now’s your chance. There are some 700 properties listed for the Malaga region so far by developers, and more than 2800 properties available through the links to financial institutions.

For a property to be eligible for the site it has to meet certain criteria. It must be newly built and ready to move into, or be completed before the end of the year. It must also be up for sale at the mortgage value which must not exceed 245,000 euros plus tax.

How it works

The Junta de Andalucia and the 19 financial institutions who are participating in this have come to an agreement. For those properties included in this scheme the mortgages available will be for 100% of the price, with no deposit needed and no commission charged.

Each loan will be for between 9,000 and 15,000 euros, depending on the applicant, and will help to reduce the monthly mortgage payments over the first eight years.

For the first three years you would pay only the interest on the loan, then from the fourth to the eighth year the loan would help to reduce the payments by around 150/250 euros a month.

Have a look at the website, we have, it’s amazing. We struggled to find 2/3 bedroom properties over 120,000 euros. There’s a special simulator on the site which allows you to work out how much of a loan you’d be entitled to and an estimate of how much the mortgage would be over the years.

Don’t leave it too late

As I said earlier, this scheme is only available in 2010. With tax deductions for the purchase of properties no longer applicable after the end of the year and IVA going up in July, now really is a great time to look at getting on the property ladder!

Frigiliana is a beautiful village not far from the coast in the Costa del Sol. If  you’re in the region of Nerja then it’s well worth a visit to see this fantastic little village.

It has won several prizes in recent years for best-preserved village and the National and Andalusian Prize for Beauty. With it’s pristine white washed houses and steep narrow streets lined with trees and displays of plants and flowers, it’s a great place to spend a leisurely day wandering around.

Recognition wanted by the villagers

Frigiliana hasn’t actually received it’s official categorisation as a ‘Cultural and Historic Preservation Site’ yet. The people of the village have been requesting some kind of recognition from the Junta de Andalucia, who award these categories, for quite a while now and feel it only fair to be given this status.

If you go and have a look around yourself I’m sure you’ll agree, this village is something special and definitely deserves the recognition it seeks.