Saúl García Corbillo

- THE MOST PEACEFUL PLACE -

I was born in what I think is a small town near Barcelona. Other people, for whatever reason, will disagree with
what I say and will consider that the place where I was born is like a small and uncrowded city. But even so, going from
village to city is already a significant change for me. The fact is that there have been few times that I have seen a landscape
much more extensive than the place where I was born, so whenever I visit a city I have never been to before, it always seems
huge and overwhelming to me. A perfect example of the sensation described previously was when I visited Madrid two
years ago, and I couldn't get to see it all because I only went for one day. Likewise, once I stepped onto Puerta del Sol, the
first place we visited in Madrid, I couldn't suppress the feeling of astonishment when I saw everything that spread in front of
me. The site that I am going to talk about, on the other hand, is very different from the prototype of the city that is, for
example, Madrid or even Barcelona: the typical big city, where many people live and where everything goes at a different
pace. So, instead of that, I will be doing a description as complete and precise as possible of one of the peaceful, at least for
me, places that in my entire life I have known: a small, charming and welcoming township near the coast of Malaga called
Frigiliana.

As I was saying, Frigiliana is a tiny village near the coast of Málaga. It borders next to Nerja, another of the most
famous towns of the Málaga coast. Although it is a seaside town, it also stands out for the different mountains surrounding it,
thus making Frigiliana one of the most beautiful and peaceful towns on the entire Andalusian coast. Frigiliana is a small
town of no more than 3,000 inhabitants situated in the perfect location for a dream vacation: a small and modest town that
combines the best of the peaceful Mediterranean coast and the best of the imposing mountains of the Sierra de Almijara. As
soon as you start taking a walk through one of its minimalist streets, the white colour of the walls of the tiny houses stands
out and makes you have a feeling of inner peace with yourself that seems to be something almost magical. How can a single
street do that to a person? The calm you feel, the sea breeze that comes into contact with your skin, the pleasant silence that
gently filters into your ears, between other factors, evoke a feeling of joy and rest that you do not want to let go of; as I said,
something magical. All these streets have the facility to transport you to places that, at first sight, you do not seem to
connect: either a small and humble fishing village in Greece or one of the most luxurious and prestigious Ibizan villages.
Places that seem to have nothing in common with a town lost between sea and mountains, but that, if you come to think
about it, share more than one similar characteristic: the beauty and serenity of the sea or its lost made-of-stone streets; its
well-cared-for flora, which coexists decorating the different houses, as if it were just another one of its gentle inhabitants,
among other things.

Frigiliana, as has been seen, is a city of sensations. Emotions like the ones I felt the first time I stepped on its
streets. I will always remember how that moment was. It had been a tough year for my family, sentimentally speaking, and
we decided to go on a summer trip to disconnect for a few days. We arrived at the town and, indeed, my first impression was
not the one that days later I would develop. When you take a teenager to a lost town with little connection and away from his
friends, he does not usually react in the best possible way. It was also my case. It was as if they had taken me by force and
put me in that place unknown to me. The first days were hard, but after the first week, something in me changed. I started to
make friends, to do things that I liked; in one way or another, I had found a way to love the people and regard them as his
second home. After that year, we decided to return every summer, and it has been like that to this day. Best of all, I have
never tired of going back and, whenever I set foot in one of its streets again, I felt as if, spiritually, I became another person.
It is hard to explain, but it is as if a state of peace and harmony invaded me, and it is impossible to want to get out of it.

In conclusion, for me, Frigiliana marked a before and after in my life. Since that catastrophic year we visited, I
found a place where I could be the way I wanted, without having to be overwhelmed or worry about things that were not
worth it. I found my little and quiet hideaway, sheltered between the calm of the sea and the solemnity of the mountains. I
found my place in the world.