Montefrio is a small village, 40 minutes drive from Granada. It's well worth a day trip or a relaxing place to stay if you enjoy the slower pace of life.

The layout of Montefrio resembles my own mental picture of a typical fairy-tale where the king and a queen live in a castle overlooking their kingdom.

The most impressive building is the massive round church 'Iglesia de Encarnación' It is 27 metres in diameter and has walls 3 metres thick. The dome is the third largest in the world.

The church was constructed in the 18th century when modern building methods were not available.
To support the dome while in construction the inside of the church was filled with rubble. Gold coins were thrown into the rubble at random.
The workers who had the mammoth task of removing the rubble were not paid, however they were allowed to keep any gold coins that they found.

When we entered the church we were greeted by the bell ringer who doubles up as the unoffical guide.

He is totally deaf and the only way to speak to him is to write on a piece of paper. He told us about the history of the church. Aparently the delay time for echos is 14 seconds.

There are plenty of terrace bars and places to have tapas in the village. We sat at the one in the photo on the left for two hours or so. After several beers and wines accompanied by delicious free tapas the bill came to only 9 euros!

Another good place to eat is the Bar Justo.

The village is surrounded by olive trees which provide the principal source of income.

It is possible to buy incredibly good cold pressed virgin olive oil directly from the cooperativa at a fraction of the price that it costs in a supermarket in Northern Europe.

If you fall in love with this place and you want to stay here forever there are two estate agents on the high street. It currently costs about 90 000 euros for a big piece of land with farmhouse.