The Alpujarras

Shepherds and their flocks still wander the area



Local hike in Capileira

The Alpujarras are an amazing mountain range in the Sierra Nevadas just a couple of hours from our home in Granada. We had heard about them before we arrived and finally got the chance to check them out on another extended weekend (Spanish holiday on Tuesday). Our landlords very nicely left us some recommendations of places to check out so with list in hand, we started driving to the northeast. (Check out the book "Driving Over Lemons" by Chris Stewart for some interesting local background on the area).

Our room at Alqueria Morayma

First stop was just outside of Cadiar at a lovely rural hotel called Alqueria Morayma, owned by some of our neighbors in the Albayzin and fellow parents at our school that we haven't yet met. It was a beautiful country inn with all the charm you could imagine including a lovely pool (closed for the season, although a mouse had had a nice final last swim), restaurant, walking trails and plenty of outdoor seating. We relaxed in our charming room with ceiling built of granite blocks and photographs from the 50's of folks enjoying the Sierras. We drove to the local town of Cadiar before dinner to buy the boys a snack (remember, dinner isn't until 9 or 10) and found the local pizza joint with teenagers hanging out front and discovered that just the week before they had replaced all the water with wine in all of the local fountains as part of an annual fiesta. Darn, one week late.

 

Nat among the barrels at Barranco Oscuro



Vinter corking bottles

 The next day we set out in search of Barranco Oscuro, a local winery that our landlords told us produced some of the best wines in Spain. Having no idea where to go, we got a simple hand-drawn map from someone at the hotel with a few clear turns drawn on the back of a receipt. Unfortunately they had us going derecho (right) instead of izquierda (left) but somehow we still managed to find this very remote location after a few wrong turns down empty rural roads. Once there, we still weren't sure we were in the right place as nobody was about, save for 3 lone perros (dogs). But we wandered around a bit more and came upon a man working in one of the buildings and after a bit of chatting (all in Spanish mind you), he directed us to an older gentleman working hard to replace wine caps with corks. This turned out to be the vintner himself, Manuel Valenzuela, who had us wait about 10 minutes while he finished his task and then proceeded to give us an hour of his time explaining the process of wine production, gave us a tour of the facility and then poured us tastings of many of his vintages (again, all in Spanish). We did a lot of head nodding and certainly didn't understand everything he said but with our familiarity with the wine production process it truly helped the context and we now understood that his wine was totally organic (no sulfites) and was very deliciouso! We left with a kiss on both cheeks and a few bottles to enjoy later, the cava which we watched get its label and then asked Manuel to sign. A very special morning indeed.



Outside the ham tour



Pigs curing in salt

The next stop was Trevelez, the highest pueblo (in altitude) in Spain, where we had an amazing lunch at the local restaurant Piedra Ventana, followed by a tour of the local ham company, very famous in these parts. Again, the tour was completely in Spanish but with a lot of pointing, gesticulating and nodding, we understood quite a bit (although I don't think the boys were too impressed).

Our room in Catifalarga

The view from our room in Capileira

Our home for the next night was in another rural hotel, Catifalarga in the hilltop town of Capileira, a most beautiful tourist village. In the morning we took an amazing kid-friendly hike just up the valley from our hotel in Capileira and after a delicious pizza lunch at a unique piano bar in the nearby village of Mecina, we walked from the small village of Ferreirola to another pueblo called Fondales. It was about a 30 minute hike among olive trees, natural streams and interesting rocks. Both were gorgeous and very unique to the area. All in all, a very romantic getaway, even with kids in tow. (Thank the lord for audiobooks and ipods).

A house in need of renovation in Ferreirola

Searching for gelato in the tiny village of Fondales