Ojén, Spain

Ojén (population approximately 3,000) is a town and municipality that sits in the mountains behind Marbella in the autonomous community of Andalusia in southern Spain. Nearby cities include Mijas to the east, Marbella to the south, Istán to the west, and Monda and Coín to the north.

Its name is oddly derived from an Arabic word, hoxán, meaning "rough" or "bitter" place, thus it is curious that the Moors should establish a settlement in a place they presumably did not care for. In common with other inland villages such as Istán, Ojén was spared the Christians' embargo on the Moors living too close to the sea after the Reconquest.