The High Alpujarras - a dive-free break
For the first time in several years, Caroline and I took a week away that involved no diving. It was designed as a cheap get-away week, and the location was chosen without any more research than the pictures looked nice, and it was near airports that were serviced by budget airlines.
Accommodation in the form of a cortijo (farmhouse) was found on the internet, and after an exchange of e-mails with an amenable Dutchman called bruno, we were booked for a week at Cortijo La Suetre, near Pitres in the High Alpujarras. This is an area in the Andalucia region of Spain, on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada and to the east of Granada. Flights were booked to Granada with Ryanair, for the princely sum of £60 each return, and with the cortijo at £500 for the week, and car-hire at approximatetly £150, four of us had a week’s holiday for £250 each.
What we didn’t know was what a good choice we had made in location. the region is simply beautiful, with views over gorges and valleys, rocky riverbeds and high plains. Almonds, walnuts, sweet chestmuts and fig trees punctuate the endless olive groves and tiny white villages cling vertiginously to the side of impossibly steep hillsides.
Along the valley from Pitres is the highest town in Spain - Trevelez (1476m) - famous for its air-cured hams, or jamones. It seems almost every shop in the centre has leg upon leg of ham hanging from walls and ceilings, each with a little drip-cup attached to the bottom. The smell is subtle, but pretty unpleasant, however I am assured that the finished product was delicious - as a veggie I didn’t get to try it personally!
Each town and village in the area has a market one day a week, and you could fill a week going from market to market. we settled with visiting those in Orgive, a lower town, and the one in Pitres. Orgiva’s was a mix of the expected vegetables, spices, pulses and fruit, with the more modern clothing, shoes and bags. Orgiva itself has a large, international “hippy” presence, and some of the best stalls were run by such smallholders, promising fresh and organic produce.
A drive up to the edge of the Sierra Nevada National Park gave us a drop in temperature of about 5 degrees and panaramic views of the region. From here you can hike to the summit of Mulhacen - Spains highest mountain. That is something that will be saved for another day, but now the idea is in my head…
My favourite memories will be sat on the terrace, watching the hills change depth and colour as the sun set along the gorge beneath us. Listening to the crickets, large and small, and waiting for the thick blanket of stars to fill the dark, dark sky - no light pollution here.
Then there was watching the large blue-winged bees, buzzing their clumsy way about, or chasing crickets in the orchard witht he two stray kittens who needed to learn how to hunt. Or just lazing, relaxing, reading and thinking of nothing….
Not bad for a non-diving holiday!
