Las Alpujarras, Andalucia
One of the most unique regions in Europe
To fully appreciate Las Alpujarras one has to abandon the rushed and accelerated mentality that exists in our daily lives these days.Only then will you be able to hear the sound of the water flowing from a hidden spring, to watch the agricultural workers on the terraces, to be fascinated by a sunset with the Sierra Nevada as a backdrop, or simply to remain seated beneath the shade of an olive tree with nothing else on your mind other than the contemplation of the moment.
The charm of La Alpujarra is in the unchanging character of its areas, its villages and its people, which take us back to an era when rushing around did not exist and simplicity was the norm.
La Alpujarra is a small corner of Al-Andalus that has survived in history.
Due to its close proximity to the sea, its summers are temperate and winters are mild, so that the area becomes an eternal springtime.
Set within the Sierra Nevada Park, declared by UNESCO to be an area of biospheric conservation in 1986, as well as a Natural park in 1989, it was recently in 1999, awarded the category of National Park.
The Alpujarren landscapes and the silence that characterizes them, encourage solitude and contemplation in their visitors. Diverse alternative communities of artists, writers, musicians and crafts people have all found their own particular paradise in La Alpujarra.
The beauty of its incredible landscapes has captivated innumerable artists and writers over the centuries, thus remaining immortalised in works such as the following:
- Pedro Antonio de Alarcón: “La Alpujarra, sixty leagues on horseback, preceded by six in diligence (First travel book written in Castillian)
- Federico Garcia Lorca, Julio Caro Baroja “The Moors of the Kingdom of Granada”
- Virginia Wolf, Gerald Brenan “South of Granada”
- Jean Christian Saphni “La Alpujarra, Secret Andalucia”
- Richard Ford “Manual for travellers in Andalucia and readers at home”
- José Guglieri “In the Alpujarren Alps” Pio Navarro Alcalá Zamora
- Antonio Gala “Andalucian Testament”
- Chris Stewart “Driving Over Lemons”, “Parrot in a Pepper Tree”, “The Almond Blossom Society”