English and the World · Spain · 26 · Málaga province · A1–C2 · Free
A white village in the mountains, the last stand of the Moriscos in 1569, Europe’s only sugar-cane honey factory, and the raisins dried in the sun of the Axarquía. Choose your level.
Frigiliana, in the Axarquía
Frigiliana is a small white village in the mountains of the Axarquía, about 6 kilometres from Nerja. It has narrow streets, steps, flowers and white houses. Many people say it is one of the prettiest villages in Spain.
The village is famous for its old Moorish streets, its festival in August and its miel de caña, a dark, sweet syrup from sugar cane. Around the village, people grow grapes and dry them in the sun to make raisins.
Follow the guide
Start at the church square. Go up the steps on the left and turn right into a narrow street. Look at the walls: there are twelve ceramic plaques. Read them: they tell the story of a battle in 1569.
Walk to the end of the street and turn left. Don’t miss the view from the top: you can see the mountains and the sea. Go down to the big old building at the bottom of the village: it’s the only sugar-cane honey factory in Europe. Try some honey, but don’t eat too much!
The walk is an example for practice: use a map when you go.
Language: imperatives and directions
| What | How | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Tell someone to do something | base verb | Go up the steps. Turn left. |
| Tell someone not to do something | Don’t + base verb | Don’t miss the view. |
| Directions | turn left / right, go straight on, go up / down, at the end of, on the left / right | At the end of the street, turn left. |
| Be polite | please, Could you tell me…? | Could you tell me the way to the church, please? |
Read the texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end.
Choose the best answer.
1. Where is Frigiliana?
2. What is miel de caña?
3. What do the ceramic plaques tell?
4. What do people make from grapes here?
Write the missing word.
5. Go the steps to the top of the village.
6. At the end of the street, turn .
7. Walk to the of the street.
8. Go on for two hundred metres.
Write the imperative: positive or negative (don’t).
9. The view is wonderful. (not / miss) it!
10. (read) the plaques on the walls.
11. (not / eat) too much honey!
12. (try) the local raisins.
Go there!
How: buses go to Frigiliana from Nerja and Málaga. Go in the morning, when it is cooler, or at the end of August for the festival. Wear comfortable shoes: there are many steps!
Your task: write directions from your school or home to a place you like, with at least six imperatives.
Three cultures, one village
Frigiliana’s narrow streets were laid out by Muslims, its church and palace were built by Christians, and every August the village celebrates the Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures that once lived side by side in this part of Spain. Its history, though, includes a time when that coexistence ended in war.
Read the two texts, then do the practice.
1567–1570
After 1492, the Muslims of the old kingdom of Granada were converted to Christianity, under pressure and then by decree, and became known as Moriscos. In 1567, new laws under Philip II restricted their language, dress and customs. In 1568 the Moriscos of the Alpujarras rebelled, and the revolt spread to the Axarquía.
In 1569, rebels from the region gathered in the fortress on the rock above Frigiliana. In June, the royal troops of Luis de Requesens attacked and took it. The castle was destroyed, the survivors were sent to other parts of Spain, such as Extremadura and Zamora, and the village was resettled with Christians from Granada and Valencia. Twelve ceramic plaques, put up in 1982, tell the story on the walls of the old quarter.
Frigiliana today
The great building at the foot of the village, the Palacio de los Condes, known as El Ingenio, now houses the only factory in Europe that still makes sugar-cane honey. In the hills around, families grow Muscatel grapes and dry them in the sun to make the protected Pasas de Málaga.
If you visit at the end of August, you’ll find the Festival of the Three Cultures, with music, markets and food. If you walk to the top of the village, you can see the sea. And if you heat sugar-cane juice slowly for hours, it turns into a thick, dark syrup. Many visitors say that if they lived nearer, they’d come every weekend.
Language: zero, first and second conditionals
| Type | Form | For… | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zero | if + present, present | things that are always true | If you heat the juice, it turns into syrup. |
| First | if + present, will / can + verb | real future possibilities | If you visit in August, you’ll find the festival. |
| Second | if + past, would + verb | unreal or unlikely situations | If I lived nearer, I’d come every weekend. |
⚠️ No will or would after if: If you go…, not ✗ If you will go…. And in formal English: If I were you, I’d go in the morning.
Fact or not sure?
| Statement | Status | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Royal troops took the rock of Frigiliana in 1569 | Fact | Most sources agree on June 1569. |
| 2,000 Moriscos died in the battle | Not sure | Sources give different numbers. |
| The defenders threw themselves from the towers rather than surrender | Not sure | A story told by one source; others don’t mention it. |
| El Ingenio is Europe’s only sugar-cane honey factory | Fact | Agreed by the sources. |
Read both texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
Choose the best answer.
1. Who were the Moriscos?
2. Why did the Moriscos rebel in 1568?
3. What happened to the village after 1569?
4. What is special about El Ingenio?
5. What does the Festival of the Three Cultures celebrate?
6. Why is the number of dead “not sure”?
Write the verb in the right form.
7. If you heat sugar-cane juice for hours, it (turn) into syrup. (always true)
8. If you visit at the end of August, you (find) the festival.
9. If I (live) nearer, I’d come every weekend.
10. If I had more money, I (buy) a house in the village.
11. If you (go) early, it won’t be so hot.
12. If I (be) you, I’d wear comfortable shoes. (advice, formal)
Choose the best answer.
13. Which is correct?
14. “If I lived in Frigiliana, I’d walk to work.” Does the speaker live there?
15. Which is a zero conditional?
16. Which shows a real plan for next weekend?
Where do these words come from?
17. Sugar came into English, via Arabic sukkar, from which ancient language?
18. Morisco comes from Spanish moro. Where does moro come from?
19. Syrup comes from Arabic sharāb. What did it mean?
A morning in the Axarquía
Route: the church square → the Moorish quarter and the twelve plaques → the viewpoint at the top → El Ingenio and its sugar-cane honey → the archaeological museum. Combine it with the Cave of Nerja (lesson 25). Check bus times and the festival dates before you go.
Your task: write advice for a friend visiting a place you know (100–120 words), using all three conditionals.
1492–1570
When Granada fell in 1492, its surrender terms guaranteed that the Muslim population be allowed to keep its faith, laws and customs. Within a decade those guarantees had been withdrawn: between 1499 and 1502 the Muslims of the kingdom were converted, first under pressure and then by decree, becoming the Moriscos, nominal Christians who in many cases quietly kept their language, dress and traditions.
In 1567 a new pragmatic sanction of Philip II required that they abandon Arabic within three years, that their women not wear the veil, and that their baths be closed. The response was the rebellion of the Alpujarras, which broke out at the end of 1568 and spread to the Axarquía. In June 1569, rebels from the region made their stand on the rock above Frigiliana; the royal troops under Luis de Requesens stormed it, and the castle was destroyed. The crown then decreed that the survivors be dispersed across Castile, to places such as Extremadura and Zamora, and Frigiliana was resettled with Old Christians from Granada and Valencia.
From 1570 to today
How the village remembers that war has changed over time. A traditional pilgrimage commemorates the Christian victory; since 1982, twelve ceramic plaques in the old quarter tell the story, and in recent years the Festival of the Three Cultures has celebrated, each August, the Christian, Muslim and Jewish heritage of the region. It is essential that history be told accurately as well as celebrated, and the plaques and the festival do different jobs: one records, the other recalls a coexistence that, for long periods, was real, and at times broke down.
The economy, too, carries the past. Sugar cane, introduced in Muslim times, still feeds El Ingenio, a Renaissance palace that houses Europe’s only factory of sugar-cane honey, while the Muscatel vines on the terraces of the Axarquía produce the protected Pasas de Málaga, sun-dried on traditional drying beds. Visitors are asked that they respect the residents of a village whose beauty has made it, in summer, one of the busiest in the province.
Language: the mandative subjunctive
| After… | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| verbs of ordering or proposing: require, decree, demand, insist, recommend, propose, suggest | that + subject + base verb (no -s, no tense) | The law required that they abandon Arabic. |
| adjectives of importance: essential, vital, important, necessary | that + subject + base verb | It is essential that history be told accurately. |
| negative | that + subject + not + base verb | …that their women not wear the veil. |
| passive | that + subject + be + past participle | …that their baths be closed. |
| British alternative (less formal) | that + subject + should + verb | …that they should abandon Arabic. |
Spanish uses the subjunctive here too: exigió que abandonaran…. In English it is formal, and common in law, history and official writing.
Evidence and debate
| Claim | What we can say |
|---|---|
| The battle was in June 1569 | Most sources; one gives 1568. |
| About 2,000 Moriscos died | One figure among several; another source speaks of almost 4,000 defenders. |
| The defenders threw themselves from the towers | Told by one source (“it is said”); not confirmed. |
Debate: How should a town remember a war in its past: with commemoration of the victors, with a record of what happened, or with a festival of coexistence? Can it do all three?
Read both texts first. Press “Check my answers” at the end.
Choose the best answer.
1. What does “nominal Christians” mean?
2. What led directly to the rebellion of 1568?
3. According to the writer, how do the plaques and the festival differ?
4. How does the writer describe the coexistence of the three cultures?
5. How does the economy “carry the past”?
6. What does the writer ask of visitors?
Write the verb in the subjunctive (base form).
7. The law required that the Moriscos (abandon) Arabic within three years.
8. It also demanded that their baths (close). (passive)
9. The crown decreed that the survivors (disperse) across Castile. (passive)
10. The law insisted that their women (not / wear) the veil.
11. It is essential that history (tell) accurately. (passive)
12. The town council recommends that every visitor (respect) the residents.
Choose the best answer.
13. Which is correct in formal English?
14. Which is the British alternative to the subjunctive?
15. Which uses the subjunctive?
16. Where would you most often find the mandative subjunctive?
Where do these words come from?
17. A decree comes from Latin decernere. What did it mean?
18. Alcove, adobe and alcohol share an origin. What is it?
19. Muscatel is linked to musk. Which other English word comes from the same Persian root, mushk?
A morning in the Axarquía
Visit: the Moorish quarter and its twelve plaques, the ruins of the castle on the hill, El Ingenio and its honey, and the archaeological museum; in late August, the Festival of the Three Cultures. Combine it with the Cave of Nerja.
Write (220–260 words): a formal proposal to a town council on how to commemorate a difficult episode in a town’s history. Use the mandative subjunctive at least five times (we recommend that the council…, it is essential that…).