Culture
The Alpujarra is situated on the relatively warm southside of the Sierra Nevada.The Sierra Nevada is considered Spain’s biggest National Park and the premier Mediterranean high mountain range. It has 14 peaks reaching more than 3000m.
Not many lands have been able to preserve the beauty, the mystery, the traditions and ways of life as la Alpujarra has. Together with the kindness of its inhabitants; all this makes la Alpujarra a magic land.
Cultural expression from the times of Arabic rule can be seen in the construction of the houses, the design of the roads, the gardens, the fountains, the kind of farming and the use of water for irrigation.
In the book “The hand of Fatima” of Ildefonso Falcones (2009) you can read a part of the history of the Arabs in the Alpujarras of the 16th century.
The Alpujarra is really a world on its own. Through writers as Gerald Brennan, who lived in Yegen for almost a decade(1920) (“South from Granada”), the Alpujarra became popular in the last century by writers and artists.
“One hour driving from Granada the world stops for a moment. Here you won’t see the beach tourist. In this forgotten corner of Andalusia the mules are standing ready on the village place to go with their bosses to the fields, returning full packed late in the evening. Most of the work on the land is done by hand. The fiesta is the highlight of the year. It is the Alpujarra where you still find the rest and the originality”
Alpujarra: That is enjoying the purest Spain!