| The mountains of the Alpujarras
are steep and broken up by deep, glaciation-formed valleys
and spectacular gorges, created by ice and the rivers fed
by the constantly melting snow of the Sierra Nevada. And the
Alpujarras are lush green wherever you look, even the bare
rock often being tinted by lichen.
Walking in the Alpujarras. The region's
natural beauty and that of its villages attracts walkers,
hikers and trekkers from all over the world, even in winter
(but take the utmost precaution if there is the slightest
possibility of your encountering harsh weather conditions,
which at any altitude in winter means always, even if the
sunshine is hot — the Sierra Nevada is high mountain,
very high indeed, rising to the 3483 m of the Mulhacen peak).
A goodly number of firms offer escorted walks or walking tours
of varying lengths and degrees of difficulty, and the latter
may be your best bet if you are new to the area, even in terms
of value for money, as accommodation and meals will be included.
History of the Alpujarras. Las Alpujarras
were not entirely uninhabited before the 8th-century Moorish
invasion, the Romans, for example, having been attracted by
the mineral wealth of the Sierra Nevada (and the relative
ease of its extraction, erosion by glaciation having stripped
away most of the overlying soft rock). But it was skilled
Berber farmers who found the region worth settling on a large
scale. They founded the area's villages — Trevélez,
Lanjarón, Monachil, La Calahorra, to name only a few
— and created the terraced fields which collected the
spring water from the melting snow of the Sierra Nevada, making
farming possible. In 1492, the forced conversion of Granada's
Moorish population caused many of the latter to take to the
hills, where they would have mixed with the Berber farmers
who had been there for centuries. The Moors of Granada and
of the Alpujarras were under constant pressure from the Christians,
and a decree prohibiting the use of Arabic and the Islamic
religion and customs led to the Morisco uprising of 1568.
This was savagely repressed, its leader, Ben Humeya, was executed
in the main square of Granada, and the entire Arab-descended
population of the Kingdom of Granada was expelled, including
those who had converted to Christianity (on the grounds that
they hadn't really converted).
Philip II brought about 12,000 settlers from the north to
repopulate the region, who occupied the Berber villages directly,
without demolishing or rebuilding, so preserving that traditional
Berber architecture, small, flat-roofed, box-shaped houses
with curious tall, round chimneys, clustered about narrow,
winding, often steep streets (you can see much the same in
the Rif and Atlas mountains of Morocco).
Nature in the Alpujarras. Most of the Alpujarras
lies within the Sierra Nevada National Park, which the Traveller's
Nature Guide to Spain describes as "a botanical
enclave of supreme importance," holding "more than
2100 taxa of vascular plant — almost one-third of the
total flora of mainland Spain," much of which is highly
threatened, so please don't pick the flowers, especially above
the tree line. But we are concerned here with the gentler,
greener Alpujarra, where non-naturalists are more likely to
be impressed by the fauna, particularly the Spanish ibex,
a mountain goat with huge horns. Unlike its recently extinct
cousin, the Pyrenean ibex, this Spanish ibex is one of those
rare, heartening ecological success stories: from an endangered
population of 500 at the beginning of the sixties, their numbers
have swelled to over 15,000, so your chances of spotting them
are high. And if you have the least interest in birds, bring
your binoculars: the bizarre-looking hoopoe is common, and
other species include royal woodpecker, barn owl, and birds
of prey like goshawk, shod eagle and sparrow hawk.
Ham. To let you in on a secret, the key
to producing good cured ham (after the quality of the meat,
of course) is to get the kind of clean, dry, cool air you
only find at high altitudes where humidity is low, salt your
ham and more or less leave it hanging there for anything up
to a couple of years. The village of Trevélez, the
highest in Spain at over 1440 m, is just the place to find
these conditions and its jamón serrano, though
not quite reaching the stratospheric quality levels (or prices)
of jamón ibérico or pata negra,
is much prized and I personally would risk a hernia to take
one home in my suitcase with me.
Gerald Brenan in the Alpujarras. This British
writer associated with the Bloomsbury group was also a student
of Spanish history and society and lived in the village of
Yegen in the Alpujarras after the First World War. He described
the area memorably in South from Granada, now considered
a travel classic and still worth reading, though you wouldn't
want to use it as a guidebook. He died in Spain in 1987, leaving
his body to medical science, specifically the University of
Málaga. This was undoubtedly well meant, but unfortunately
the university had little use for the body of an eighty-three-year-old
man, however important a writer he might have been, and it
was more or less kept in a pickle jar for fourteen years until
a group of intellectuals headed by Spanish history expert
Ian Gibson managed to have it buried.
Travel in the Alpujarras
Routes. The Sierra Nevada being so huge,
any attempt to explore it in detail could well, as Teresa
Farino of the Traveller's Nature Guide to Spain puts
it, take you the rest of your life. The Alpujarras are not
quite that big, but don't expect to get the whole area under
your belt in a single visit. There are lots of walking routes,
most perfectly sign-posted, which range from short strolls
to full-day hikes, and two long-distance routes run through
the Alpujarras. GR-7 (which extends all the way from Cádiz
to Greece) crosses the Alpujarra Alta, the Upper Alpujarras
- it begins at the spa town of Lanjarón and passes
through Cañar, Soportujar, Pampaneira, Bubión,
Capileira, Pitres, Portugos and Busquistar, before a long
climb up to Trévelez, from where it drops back down
again to Juviles, Timar, Lobras, Cádiar, Narila, Bérchules,
Mecina Bombarón, Golco, Yégen, Válor,
Nechite, Mairena, Jubar and Laroles (it is possible to drive
along a very similar route, beginning by taking the A-348
out of Lanjarón). GR-142 is less well known and less
strenuous (though it is still an 8-day trek if you do the
entire Alpujarran haul), crossing the Alpujarras at a lower
level.
Practical Alpujarras Travel
Eating and Drinking. Jamón serrano
is, naturally, the star of Alpujarran cuisine, on its own,
in bocadillo, or in dishes like habas con jamón,
beans with ham. Fresh river trout, cooked as trucha a
la alpujarreña, is also to be watched out for,
game is good, and the filling peasant dish, migas alpujarreñas,
fried breadcrumbs with garlic, onion, green pepper and tomato,
is served as accompaniment to meat dishes. Excellent quality
wine is produced in the Alpujarra Baja, Lower Alpujarras,
particularly in Albuñol and Albondón.
Moving Around. Something leisurely is called
for, here — the Alpujarras is not the place to try out
your new Mustang GT. As you will have gathered, walking is
the preferred option, but cycling (even motorcycling, if your
silencer is doing its job properly) or horse riding are also
enjoyable ways to get about.
Getting There. Until recently, the nearest
international airport was Málaga, but Ryanair now operates
flights to Granada from Liverpool and Stansted.
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