Andalucia Trip part II: Las Alpujarras

With my new hat in place, we now took off into the next stage of the Andalucia trip: renting an RV and driving it up narrow roads into the Sierra Nevada mountains to some of the highest villages in Europe. 

Most of the roads are double lane and there is plenty of room, except when you get a tour bus coming the other direction. Guardrails over the abysses were nearly poetic in their flimsiness. Luckily for my CDL training driving shuttle busses in Colorado, I had few problems. Cassandra provided wonderful and timely navigation advice and RV spotting when we backed into/out of tight areas. This was a key service.

The Alpujarras Mountains are the southern rampart of the higher Sierra Nevada range that back up to Granada and the Alhambra from the first post. If you flew south from Granada over the snowy ridges on your way to the Mediterranean Sea you'd soon be over the Alpujarras and a scattering of white villages nestled in the various drainages of the high Sierra Nevada peaks. 

This area was the last stronghold of the Moors after they had been forced out of Granada. It is physically difficult to access, so it gave them another 80 years in Spain, but this was just a small contingent and the majority had departed for Northern Africa after 1492. Recognizing the tourism potential of these valleys and small towns, Spain has a decent highway through most of them. So getting to the Alpujarras is not difficult, but you have to be careful where you decide to turn off of the highway, since many roads that look good soon whittle down and deposit you in someone's backyard. So navigation and commitment are important: you do not want to show these mountains any hesitation.

Jasper photobombs Hunter S. Thompson

"You couldn't find your way out of a..."

Trevelez, the highest of the villages you can drive to.

The dry mountain air is ideal for curing ham, so Jamon Serrano is a big business here.

The villages are all scenically white-washed. There is definitely a town ordinance to paint every exterior surface white whether it makes sense or not, as is evidenced by this garage on a back street.

Lovely wife makes breakfast in the RV while I keep an eye on things from the pull-down bed.

The Wheels!

Trevelez back-alley shop

Outside Capileira we found a cool hike down to a river with an old bridge. Always good to have objectives.

Kids heading for the Puente (Bridge).

Shepard's hut.

The mountains are full of terracing, much of it started by Moors soon after they arrived in the 800-900 timeframe. Looking up at the slopes it is striking how much of the landscape is transformed by endless lines of stone terraces. Much of it is overgrown now and the earth has slowly filled in the flat spots, but the infrastructure is all clearly visible, right down to the old shepard's huts.

A cool hut I walked into, only to find some hermit sleeping!

The amount of terracing visible on all these mountainsides really brings home the amount of work that this valley has seen over the centuries. To imagine people digging up and stacking rocks for decades and decades in that hot Andalucian sun is enough to make me run to a shady bar for beer.

The kids really got into the RV experience. Cody took a strong liking to the cargo hold.

The final bit of history: right outside Lanjarón stands the ruins of a Moorish castle. Situated on a rise with a commanding view of the approaches up the valley, it safeguarded the Moor community that existed here after the rest were run out in 1492 by Ferdinand and Isabella. Eventually this one fell too after a final, short-lived Alpujarras revolt in 1568. 

Hiking the ruins.

Then we drove down to the coast to stay at a place called Torremolinos, near the RV drop off point. Had paella on the beach, fitting conclusion to an amazing week in Andalucia. HUGE kudos to Cassandra for trip planning, research and ideas! This would not have happened without her efforts.