Walking is thirsty work!

The fuentes of Berja
by Robert Bovington

Quite often my wife and I travel from Roquetas to the beautiful Alpujarras and often we stop in or near the attractive town of Berja for a coffee break.

However, occasionally we visit Berja because we like the town and like strolling along its quaint historic streets.

One of the noticeable features of Berja is its fuentes (fountains) –  there are more than thirty of them scattered around the town and its nearby environs! When you think that the province of Almería is the sunniest, driest part of Spain, you might wonder where the water is coming from! In the past, the Sierra de Gádor was heavily mined, mainly for lead and silver but now water is its biggest treasure. The mines were abandoned in the early nineteenth century but water, surprisingly, still appears to exist in sufficient quantities.

In villages like Berja there are numerous fuentes where water can be obtained – the meagre rainfall and the melted snow from the high sierra is efficiently stored and purified before being released as pure clean water.

So, a walk that takes in some of these fuentes is not a bad idea.

The place to start is the tourist office – the young lady there is most helpful and will provide leaflets in Spanish and English. One of the leaflets features the famous fountain routes – you don’t have to do them all in one day especially as some of them are rather off the beaten track.

Go in Spring or Autumn – it’s best to avoid going in the heat of summer – even winter can be pleasantly warm at times! Take a container to fill with water – it’s free and probably tastier than bought water!

Not far from the tourist office is the main plaza where the Town Hall and church (Iglesia de la Anunciación) are situated as well as one of the fountains  – the fuente de los 16 caños.

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Enjoy your walkl(s)!
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Pampaneira in the Alpujarras of Granada

by Robert Bovington 
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Pampaneira is an extremely photogenic location with narrow streets, a fine Gothic church with a wooden roof in Mudéjar style, and several cafes and shops, which though ‘touristy’ are nevertheless delightful. The view from the road leading down into the town is breathtaking with the snow-capped peaks of the Sierra Nevada forming an attractive backdrop.

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Pampaneira © Robert Bovington

Yegen (Alpujarra Granada)

Yegen may not be as picturesque as villages like Pampaniera and Capileira – nor as large as Órgiva and Ugíjar. However, it is worthy of mention because it was the setting for ‘South from Granada’ by the celebrated English author Gerald Brenan. He lived in Yegen between 1920 and 1930. A number of famous friends visited him there including Virginia Woolf.

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Yegen  - a street corner © Robert Bovington

Cherín – a village in the Alpujarras

Cherín is a small village in the Alpujarras. It has an oil mill and many orange, mandarin and olive groves as well as almond trees.

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Cherín © Robert Bovington

 

Pueblo Blancos of the Alpujarras

 

Mairena (a village in the Alpujarras) © Robert Bovington

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It is not just the flora and fauna that make the Alpujarras such a special place. The white villages, with their peculiar architecture that resembles that of northern Africa, are charming. The houses are built with stone, adobe and clay and their facades whitewashed. A typical feature of the houses is their flat roofs, many of them crammed with flowers. The stone-paved streets are often very narrow, winding and steep which add to the enchantment of the villages. Some of them appear to cling perilously to the sides of the mountainsides when viewed from a distance, but of course, most have survived for many hundreds of years since the Moorish times of Al-Andalus.

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 Other blogs by Robert Bovington:
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“Photographs of Spain”	http://bovingtonphotosofspain.blogspot.com/
“Spanish Impressions”	http://bobbovington.blogspot.com/
“you couldn’t make it up!”	http://bovingtonycmitup.blogspot.com/
“a grumpy old man in Spain”	http://grumpybobbov.blogspot.com/
“bits and bobs”	http://bovingtonbitsandblogs.blogspot.com/
“Spanish Expressions”	http://spanishsayingsbovington.blogspot.com/
“Spanish Art”	http://bovingtonspanishart.blogspot.com/
“Books About Spain”	http://bovingtonbooks.blogspot.com/

Mecina Bombaron (Alpujarra Granada)

Mecina Bombaron (Alpujarra Granada)

 

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This area of the Alpujarras is particularly delightful located as it is on the wooded slopes of the Sierra Nevada. A recent census revealed that 2100 different types of plant exist in the Sierra Nevada National Park. Chestnut trees, in particular, are abundant here and the local architecture incorporates chestnut beams. The houses of Mecina-Bombarón are set amidst forests of chestnut. 

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Other blogs by Robert Bovington:
 .

“Photographs of Spain”	http://bovingtonphotosofspain.blogspot.com/
“Spanish Impressions”	http://bobbovington.blogspot.com/
“you couldn’t make it up!”	http://bovingtonycmitup.blogspot.com/
“a grumpy old man in Spain”	http://grumpybobbov.blogspot.com/
“bits and bobs”	http://bovingtonbitsandblogs.blogspot.com/
“Spanish Expressions”	http://spanishsayingsbovington.blogspot.com/
“Spanish Art”	http://bovingtonspanishart.blogspot.com/
“Books About Spain”	http://bovingtonbooks.blogspot.com/

Trevélez hams

one of the drying sheds in Trevélez © Robert Bovington

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Trevélez is famous for its ham and thousands of pigs’ legs are hung in drying sheds to produce large hams up to 10kg in weight. The dry and cold climate of the area is perfect for the production of Jamón Serrano. Trevélez is on the same slope as Mulhacén, which with a height of 3481 metres is the highest mountain in mainland Spain.
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 Other blogs by Robert Bovington: 
. 

“Photographs of Spain”	http://bovingtonphotosofspain.blogspot.com/
“Spanish Impressions”	http://bobbovington.blogspot.com/
“you couldn’t make it up!”	http://bovingtonycmitup.blogspot.com/
“a grumpy old man in Spain”	http://grumpybobbov.blogspot.com/
“bits and bobs”	http://bovingtonbitsandblogs.blogspot.com/
“Spanish Expressions”	http://spanishsayingsbovington.blogspot.com/
“Spanish Art”	http://bovingtonspanishart.blogspot.com/
“Books About Spain”	http://bovingtonbooks.blogspot.com/

Almond Blossom in the Alpujarras

almond blossom nr Albondon (Alpujarra Granada) © Robert Bovington

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"It's like going to heaven," my wife commented, on our first drive into the Alpujarras. We had left Roquetas on one of the few grey days. It was in February and there was a lot of low cloud. We had only travelled a few miles up into the mountains, but it was a different world. Above the clouds, there was a bright blue sky and beautiful white and pink blossom of the almond trees. 

  .

Other blogs by Robert Bovington: 

   .

"Photographs of Spain"	http://bovingtonphotosofspain.blogspot.com/
"Spanish Impressions"	http://bobbovington.blogspot.com/
"you couldn't make it up!"	http://bovingtonycmitup.blogspot.com/
"a grumpy old man in Spain"	http://grumpybobbov.blogspot.com/
"bits and bobs"	http://bovingtonbitsandblogs.blogspot.com/
"Spanish Expressions"	http://spanishsayingsbovington.blogspot.com/
"Spanish Art"	http://bovingtonspanishart.blogspot.com/
"Books About Spain"	http://bovingtonbooks.blogspot.com/

The beauty of the Alpujarras

almond blossom nr Albondon

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Las Alpujarras is the area of picturesque white villages that cling to the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. It is a nature lover's delight. Torrents cascading down from the frozen summits of the high Sierra have cut deep ravines into the rock leaving the lower slopes a brilliant green. Olive and almond trees abound and as one travels higher into the Alpujarras, oak, chestnut and pine forests flourish. Every season in the Alpujarras is special - even winter with its orange trees heavy with fruit.

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Whole mountainsides are given over to growing things - many hillsides are terraced - a legacy of the Moors who also built irrigation channels - acequias - to bring water from the high Sierra to irrigate the crops. The region contains an abundance of fruit trees, especially grape vines, oranges, lemons, persimmons, figs and almonds.

sheep rearing nr Nechite

The whole region is special and one of great natural beauty. The valleys of the western Alpujarras are among the most fertile in Spain, though the steep nature of the terrain means that they can only be cultivated in small fields, so that many modern agricultural techniques are impractical. However, that adds to the charm of the area - at least for us idle buggers who don't have to work the fields. On a recent walk along the GR7 footpath, near the delightful little town of Válor, I saw a farmer ploughing the side of a hill using a horse and plough!



more blogs by Robert Bovington...

"Photographs of Spain"	http://bovingtonphotosofspain.blogspot.com/
"postcards from Spain"	http://bovington-posts.blogspot.com/
"you couldn't make it up!"	http://bovingtonycmitup.blogspot.com/
"a grumpy old man in Spain"	http://grumpybobbov.blogspot.com/
"bits and bobs"	http://bovingtonbitsandblogs.blogspot.com/
"Spanish Expressions"	http://spanishsayingsbovington.blogspot.com/
"Spanish Art"	http://bovingtonspanishart.blogspot.com/
"Books About Spain"	http://bovingtonbooks.blogspot.com/

Andalucía

by Robert Bovington

map of Andalucía © Robert Bovington

Andalucía is the southernmost region of mainland Spain. It is the land of bullfighting, flamenco and gypsies. It is the land of high sierras, charming white villages and magnificent cities. It is the embodiment of Spain and yet its people think of themselves as Andalucian first and Spanish second - Andalucía became an autonomous community with its own parliament in Sevilla in 1982. The regional government - the Junta de Andalucía - administers things like taxes, health and most governmental day-to-day affairs. However, the Andalucian people have voted for independence from Spain. They already celebrate Andalucian day - on February 28 each year.

Andalucía is diverse - a country of extremes and its people live life to the full. Most British holidaymakers head for the beaches of the Costa del Sol. The more adventurous and perhaps slightly more cultured may venture further afield - perhaps to the cities of Málaga or Granada. Some might even visit the fantastic Alhambra! Most do not see the real Andalucía and miss an incredible array of cultural and ecological splendour.

There are eight provinces in Andalucía: Almería, Cádiz, Córdoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaén, Málaga and Sevilla and, within this land, the diversity of things to see is astounding. There are the green foothills of the snow-capped Sierra Nevada, the alluvial plains of the Guadalquivir River and the desert lands of Almería. There are fields of golden barley and yellow sunflowers, rolling hills of olive, almond, citrus and terraces of grape - all under an intense blue sky. Scattered across this spectacular fabric are the charming white villages that often cling precariously to the many mountain slopes in the region and the great cities like Granada, Sevilla and Córdoba.

Andalucía is the second largest region of Spain and the most densely populated yet it is seventy percent of the size of England but with only seven million people and most of these are congregated around the Costa del Sol - poor sods. The result is that there are many wide open spaces and a lot of these are conservation areas. In 2005, Spain had 1.6 million hectares of protected landscape representing 9.1% of the total area - the highest in Europe. Andalucía, however, had a whopping 18.92 per cent! One hundred and sixty three actual sites were under some sort of protection including two National Parks (Sierra Nevada and Doñana), twenty-four Natural Parks and eight Biosphere Reserves.

The areas that I have visited are delightful places to visit, walk, drive or live. The Sierra Nevada is a favourite of mine and it is the location of the highest mountain in mainland Spain, Mulhacén. It also has the charming Alpujarras spread across its southern slopes. The Doñana National Park is the largest of Spain's national parks and has three distinct ecosystems: the salt marshes, the brushwood and the salt dunes. An amazing array of fauna and flora is to be found there. The same can be said of another favourite of mine - the Parque Natural de Cabo de Gata-Níjar to give it its full title. Located a short distance from Almería, some of its species of flora are unique to the area - like the pink snapdragon antirrhinum charidemi. This park really mirrors the diversity of the region - it is volcanic in origin and comprises coastal dunes, steep cliffs, spectacular beaches, salt marshes, saltpans, arid steppe inland, dry riverbeds and a substantial marine zone. It is probably this ecological diversity that has led to the park being designated a UNESCO Biosphere reserve.

Near Ronda there are other beautiful protected areas including the Sierra de las Nieves and the Sierra de Grazalema. I discovered the former when I drove from Fuengirola to Ronda via Tolox and Coín, a longer but much more splendid drive than the more direct route via Marbella. When I visited the Sierra de Grazalema I decided that I liked it even more than the Alpujarras. It too has charming pueblos blancos - like Zahara de la Sierra, which is reckoned to be one of the most attractive of the 'White Villages of Andalucía'. Grazalema too is delightful. However there are charming white villages throughout the region - many clinging precariously to hillsides.

It is not just countryside that has been afforded protection - buildings too are on the list of protected sites. For example, the Alhambra Palace in Granada is a World Heritage site - but then the great cities of Andalucía are magnificent - Sevilla with its Cathedral and the Giralda - Córdoba and the Mezquita - Granada.

The reason for this splendour was the great influence of Muslim rule on Andalucian culture. The Moors ruled over this region for eight hundred years until the Catholic Monarchs re-conquered Granada in 1492. These Arabs and Berbers of Muslim faith had a profound effect on architecture; agriculture and the arts in this region whose name, incidentally, was derived from the Arabic name "Al Andalus".

There are other fine towns in the region: Cádiz is purportedly Europe's oldest city, Ronda is the largest of the 'White Towns' and the birthplace of bullfighting, Baeza and Ubeda have magnificent Renaissance buildings and Almería has the imposing Alcazaba - also built by the enterprising Moors.

Yes - these Arab peoples built some of the most marvellous buildings in Spain and introduced irrigation systems that are still in use today in places like the Alpujarras. It beats planting bombs and running corner shops! But I digress.

Andalucía has so many wide open spaces, delightful countryside and magnificent cities that it amazes me that most holidaymakers head for the Costa del Sol. However I hope they continue to do so - the beauty of this delightful region is enhanced by the fact that most of it is not despoiled by mass tourism. I don't want English bars in the Alpujarras thank you!

Robert Bovington

Yegen (a village in the Alpujarras)

Yegen is a little village in the Alpujarra of Granada situated between the villages of Válor and Mecina Bombarón. Like other pueblos blancos in this region, Yegen is situated amidst spectacular scenery lying as it does on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada.

The Alto de San Juan lies to the north of the village. It is one of the lesser peaks of the Sierra Nevada National Park but it is still pretty high with an altitude of 9,000 feet. Yegen, itself, is 4000 feet above sea level and to the south, below the village, are the valleys of Cadíar and Ugíjar. Opposite is the Sierra de la Contraviesa, which can provide tantalising glimpses of the Mediterranean beyond to travellers who view it from the appropriate location.

In the immediate vicinity of the village are forests of chestnut above the village and further up poplar. Below the village are groves of orange and olive.

Yegen is not as picturesque as villages like Pampaniera and Capileira - nor as large as Órgiva and Ugíjar. However, it is worthy of mention because it was the setting for 'South from Granada' by the celebrated English author Gerald Brenan. He lived in Yegen between 1920 and 1930. A number of famous friends visited him there including Virginia Woolf.

Gerald Brenan

Brenan was one of the foremost English chroniclers of Spain and its people. He wrote 'The Spanish Labyrinth' and 'The Face of Spain' but it was 'South from Granada' for which he is most famous. It was his autobiography of his time in Yegen.

There is a plaque over the door of the house where the author lived and one of the streets in the village is named after him. There is even a 'Sendero de Gerald Brenan' footpath - it is one of a number of walking routes in the vicinity of Yegen. The long distance GR7 passes nearby. It is part of the International E-4 footpath that runs all the way from Tarifa to Greece. So even without Gerald Brenan, Yegen can lay claim to being well and truly on the map!

Dalías (Alpujarra Almeriense)

Dalías is a town in the province of Almería. It consists of two main areas - Dali and Celín. Sitting as it does in the foothills of the Sierra de Gádor, Dalías is often considered part of the Alpujarra Almeriense. Certainly its northern boundaries are extremely picturesque – the mountains loom over the town and the Celín area is extremely rural and the Celín Recreation Area is a pleasant place for a picnic.

picnic site at Celín

South of the town is a different matter. The Campo de Dalías is, in my view, the ugliest area in the whole of the province of Almería with its ocean of plastic, the ubiquitous invernaderos. 30,000 hectares of agricultural greenhouses have, since the 80's, sprung up in the south western region of Almería. Maybe they are an improvement on the original Campo de Dalías because author Gerald Brenan wasn’t too enamoured with the area either. In his book ‘South from Granada’ he wrote “…a depressing sight met my eye. For fifteen miles the road ran in a perfectly straight line across a stony desert……it is a delta of stone and rubble pushed eight miles into the sea by the erosion of the Sierra de Gádor…”.

But back to Dalías – it has a number of attractive buildings – none more so than its main church, Iglesia Parroquial de Santa María de Ambrox. It is large – surprisingly so considering the size of the town and is extremely appealing both within and without. It has had a troubled history. It has been destroyed and severely damaged on a number of occasions since it was first erected in the 16^th century. It was first occasion was during the Morisco rebellion in the Alpujarras in 1568. An earthquake caused its complete destruction in 1804 and as recently as 1993 a fire caused extensive damage. Today, it is a delightful building and is situated in an attractive plaza close to the town hall. 

Iglesia Parroquial de Santa María de Ambrox

Casino

A short walk away, is the Casino de Dalías which was built in the early twentieth century but which resembles a nineteenth-century style town house. It has an ornate façade and is the hub of the social and cultural life of the town with dances and concerts.

One of the great assets of towns located in the Sierra de Gádor is water. There are many fuentes in the Dalías area and the town council have installed signs to accompany a tourist trail that incorporates twenty of these watering places. The trail is called ‘La Ruta de las Fuentes de Dalías’. It starts at the Fuente de Peregrino and finishes at the Arroyo de Celín, a delightful recreation area for walking and for picnics (if you don’t mind ducks trying to share your food).

Fuente del Doctor Vicente Granados

Saint José María Rubio y Peralta
(picture in Iglesia Parroquial de
Santa María de Ambrox)

Of the famous people of Dalías, I will mention two:

José María Rubio (1864-1929) was the first and only saint born in the province of Almería.

Juan Callejón Villegas, a 19^th century diplomat, the great great grandfather of actress Helena Bonham Carter.

Robert Bovington

Roquetas de Mar Nov 2011

Ayuntamiento de Dalías

Laujar de Andarax (Alpujarra Almeriense)

Laujar de Andarax is a town in the Alpujarras with a special charm and a turbulent history. It nestles in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Opposite are the mountains of the Sierra de Gádor whilst a fertile valley separates the two mountain ranges. It is a delightful setting.

Laujar de Andarax

Laujar is located near the source of the Andarax River that provides water for the numerous fountains in the town. There are a number of fine buildings too and none more so than its principal church - Iglesia Parroquial de la Encarnación. Dating from the 17th century, this Mudéjar building with a Baroque finish is quite attractive. The church is known as the 'Cathedral of Alpujarra'.

It was built on the foundations of a mosque. I do not know if it was the original mosque that was set on fire in 1500 with the population inside - they were hiding there during the first Moorish revolt. What I do know is that the entire Moorish population was obliged to convert to Christianity or leave the kingdom. Those Moors who converted were known as moriscos. Later, 1568-71, there was a second Alpujarras rebellion. The leader of this revolt was Abén Humeya, King of the Moriscos. However, his nephew Aben Aboo assassinated him and proclaimed himself as his uncle's successor. He established the capital of his kingdom in Laujar. Following many bloody battles, the moriscos were finally expelled from the Alpujarras. This town, like many others, was left deserted for many years until people from outside the Kingdom of Granada repopulated it.

Today, Laujar de Andarax is a thriving town and it is still a capital - it is the capital of the Alpujarra of Almería. It is well known for it's wine and there are a number of bodegas locally that welcome visitors. It is one of the most accessible places in the Alpujarras being only a 40-minute drive from the coastal town of Almerimar.

Nacimiento nr Laujar

I frequently visit the Alpujarras and often go to Laujar to purchase some of its local produce - particularly honey and the delicious soplillos, which are chewy meringues made with almonds. However, there is another reason I visit the town. About 1 kilometre north of Laujar is 'El Nacimiento' - a delightful area of waterfalls, picnic areas and places to walk. My wife and I usually go there in Spring and Autumn on weekdays and, mostly, we have the place to ourselves. It is a haven of peace and tranquillity. Nacimiento means 'birth' and it is here that the Río Andarax starts its journey to the sea near Almería.

extract from “Spanish Impressions” by Robert Bovington

ISBN 978-1-4452-2543-2 available from www.lulu.com

Capileira (an Alpujarran village)

by Robert Bovington
Capileira, at 1436 metres, is the highest of the three Alpujarran villages in the Poqueira valley. Like the other settlements in the Alpujarra, it has narrow streets and its houses have been adapted to the needs of the steep terrain and the local climate - they are whitewashed, have flat roofs and are reminiscent of the architecture of North Africa.
In the centre of the village there is a museum that displays the arts and popular customs of the Alpujarra. There is also an 18th century church - the Iglesia Parroquial de Santa María la Mayor.
However, most people who visit Capileira do so in order to walk - Capiliera is a centre for walking and for accessing the mountains especially Mulhacén which is generally treated as a two-day climb from Capileira with an overnight stop at a mountain refuge en route. Well, they can't drive that way! The Sierra Nevada Highway used to run through Capileira and out across the Sierra Nevada towards the city of Granada. However, motor traffic is no longer permitted beyond Capileira.

If you do decide to walk in the Sierra Nevada, take care - in 2004 some experienced British walkers lost their lives when the weather changed for the worse! Personally, I would only walk up there in the summer - at those altitudes it is bloody cold! In any case, I prefer to walk between the villages of the Poqueira Gorge. Pampaneira to Capileira via Bubión is a pleasant walk.

Las Alpujarras

by Robert Bovington

Ohanes

Las Alpujarras is the area of picturesque white villages that cling to the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada. It is a nature lover's delight. Torrents cascading down from the frozen summits of the high Sierra have cut deep ravines into the rock leaving the lower slopes a brilliant green. Olive and almond trees abound and as one travels higher into the Alpujarras, oak, chestnut and pine forests flourish. Every season in the Alpujarras is special - even winter with its orange trees heavy with fruit.

Chris Stewart, in his best-selling book 'Driving over Lemons' tells a riveting tale of life on a remote farm in the Alpujarras. When we moved to Spain my wife and I, for a number of practical reasons - like not wanting the hard work that comes with working a farm, decided to live on the coast. However, intrigued by Chris Stewart's book, we started to regularly go on trips into the Alpujarras which are only an hour's drive away from our home in Roquetas de Mar. The Alpujarras has become one of our favourite places.

Ugíjar

Ugíjar is one of the most easterly towns of the Granada Alpujarras - the most westerly towns being Lanjarón and Órgiva. However, that is only half the story - a large part of the Alpujarras is located in Almería province! La Alpujarra Almeriense may not as be well known as the Granada Alpujarra but it is, nevertheless, a special place.

The whole region is special and one of great natural beauty. The valleys of the western Alpujarras are among the most fertile in Spain, though the steep nature of the terrain means that they can only be cultivated in small fields, so that many modern agricultural techniques are impractical. However, that adds to the charm of the area - at least for us idle buggers who don't have to work the fields. On a recent walk along the GR7 footpath, near the delightful little town of Válor, I saw a farmer ploughing the side of a hill using a horse and plough!

sheep rearing nr Nechite

Whole mountainsides are given over to growing things - many hillsides are terraced - a legacy of the Moors who also built irrigation channels - acequias - to bring water from the high Sierra to irrigate the crops. The region contains an abundance of fruit trees, especially grape vines, oranges, lemons, persimmons, figs and almonds. The eastern Alpujarra, in the province of Almería, is more arid, but still highly attractive and still rich in fruit bearing trees especially grape, olive and citrus varieties.


Many peoples tried to conquer this mountainous area but it was finally the Moors who succeeded in settling in the Alpujarras. They were the only owners of this region for hundreds of years and even after the fall of Granada in 1492 they were allowed to remain there. Only after the Morisco Revolt of 1568 were these enterprising people forced to leave.

The influence of the Moorish population can be seen in the agriculture, the local cuisine, the local carpet weaving and the numerous Arabic place names.

The houses of the Alpujarras are quite charming with little chimneys sticking out as a reminder that the winter evenings can be a tad chilly. The houses are built of stone, adobe and clay and their façades whitewashed. The distinct cubic construction of these buildings is reminiscent of Berber architecture in Morocco's Atlas Mountains. The steepness of the land means that the houses in the villages seem to be piled on top of one another, and their characteristic flat roofs, distinctive roofed chimneys, and balconies - tinaos - extending across the steep narrow streets give them a unique and picturesque appearance - from a distance they appear to cling precariously to the mountainside.

There are many villages in the region, the largest being Lanjarón, Órgiva, Ugíjar, Laujar de Andarax and Berja. All are situated at a considerable elevation but Trevélez, at 1476 metres above sea level, is the highest town in Spain.

Most of the villages are delightful places to live or visit but the three white villages in the gorge of the Rio Poqueira - Pampaneira, Bubión and Capileira -have become recognised tourist destinations and are very popular with walkers.

There are many other traditional villages of similar appearance including Mecina Bombarón and Laroles in Granada province together with the Almerian villages of Ohanes, Padules and Alboloduy.

Pampaneira

Trevélez  jámon

Sierra de Gádor

by Robert Bovington

The Sierra de Gádor mountain range is situated in the south-western corner of the province of Almería. It belongs to the Betic system, specifically the Cordillera Penibética . The maximum altitude is 2249 meters – the summit of Launilla Morrón.
To the north is the Sierra Nevada; to the south lies the Mediterranean Sea whilst the Sierras Alhamilla and Contraviesa lie respectively to the east and west.

Sierra de Gádor nr Enix

At the foot of the Sierra de Gádor lies the region of the Poniente Almeriense (Western Almería), traditionally called the Campo de Dalias which, in my opinion, is by far the least attractive part of the diverse region of Almería. Author Gerald Brenan didn’t like it either – “…a depressing sight met my eye. For fifteen miles the road ran in a perfectly straight line across a stony desert…” was part of his description of the Campo de Dalías in his book “South to Granada”. Nowadays the stony desert is replaced by an ocean of plastic, the ubiquitous invernaderos. These greenhouses may have allowed the provinceof Almería to become Europe's market garden but they sure look ugly!

Never mind, the Sierra de Gádor is a pleasant, largely unspoilt mountain range that is technically part of that delightful region of the Alpujarras. The following towns are within its boundaries:

Felix , Enix , Gádor , Alhama de Almería , Alicún , Huécija , Íllar , Instinción , Rágol , Fondón, Laujar de Andarax , Alcolea, Berja , Dalías and Vícar .

statue of a miner in Fondón

In the past, the Sierra de Gádor was heavily mined, mainly for lead and silver but now water is its biggest treasure. The mines were abandoned in the early nineteenth century. Water, surprisingly, still appears to exist in sufficient quantities. In villages like Berja, Felix and Dalías there are numerous fuentes where water can be obtained – the meagre rainfall and the melted snow from the high sierra is efficiently stored and purified before being released as pure clean water.

a fuente in Dalías

Robert Bovington

Nov 2011

A drive in the Alpujarras

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Bayárcal is the highest village in the Almeriense Alpujarras at over 4000 feet.

The village is surrounded by an oak forest and nearby are groves of chestnut, pine and cherry. In October, the local villagers can be seen collecting chestnuts.

The scenery around this area is spectacular and I quite often drive little circular routes around this area. One suggestion is to start at Cherín and follow the A337 through Picena to Laroles. At a junction take the road to Bayárcal then Paterna del Río and on to Laujar de Andarax. Thence travel along the A348 back to Cherín.

Cherín

An excellent deviation, if you have time, is to visit Puerto de Ragua, which, at 2000 metres above sea level, is the only road that links the south and north faces of the Sierra Nevada. Puerto de Ragua is a pleasant place to walk or have a picnic. Snow covers this area from November until April. To drive there continue north from Laroles instead of taking the road to Bayárcal.

Puerto de Ragua

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