The Alpujarra

The Alpujarra of Almería is the area of white villages that dot the mountainous landscape of the Sierra Nevada. This is the land that the Moors only left under military pressure.
The Andarax river is the main artery of the area and forms a fertile valley with orchards and vineyards, in sharp contrast with the arid slopes of the Sierra de Gádor. This contrast of colours becomes even greater when the almond and the cherry trees are in bloom and cover the landscape with beautiful hues.
The villages are perched on the slopes of the southern side of the mountains, as if they guessed the presence of the Mediterranean in the horizon. The crops also seem to climb the mountains and grow on terraces. The acequias or irrigation channels, a legacy from the Moorish times of Al-Andalus, still bring water from the frozen summits of the Sierra Nevada to irrigate the crops. Water is a crucial element in The Alpujarra, a land still fed by the same rivers and springs that charmed the Moors more than a thousand years ago.

How to get to the villages of the Alpujarra

The area is crossed from east to west by road A-348, and can be reached from the part of The Alpujarra that is situated in the province of Granada or from the city of Almería, which is equipped with an airport and port.
Access from the north is possible by taking the A-92 highway. For visitors who prefer to take a quiet journey and cross the Sierra Nevada, it is worth taking the road that crosses the Puerto de la Ragua mountain pass. Roads
A-347 and A-391 link the area with the coastal area of Poniente Almeriense or Western Almería. The highway that leads to Roquetas de Mar and El Ejido provides access from the south. The area is linked to Murcia by the highway known as “Autovía del Mediterráneo”.

A charming land

Perhaps The Alpujarra is such a special place because of its peculiar architecture, which resembles that of northern Africa rather than the typical Andalusian style. Or perhaps it is due to its scenery, a true orchard created between two mountain ranges with a patchwork of almond trees, vineyards and fruit trees.
The Alpujarra is a beautiful expression of simplicity. It has the charm of both an ancient land and its people, whose ingenuity has transformed the legacy of nature into paradise.
In the 21st century, the last refuge of the Moors of Al-Andalus still bears the charm of a unique place and the art of living of its open and welcoming people, who are clearly the most precious asset of the area.

Alpujarra Almeriense The mark of Al-Andalus

The origin of most of the villages and towns of The Alpujarra dates back to the Moorish times of Al-Andalus, when the area enjoyed its greatest splendour.
The Prehistoric remains found in the villages of Canjáyar, Fondón and Padules tell us that the area was scarcely populated before Roman times. Padules and Alhama de Almería, which has a Roman bridge called “La Puente”, are both examples of Roman towns.
Most of all, The Alpujarra is a land marked by its Islamic heritage. The organisation of land into terraces, urban planning, architecture, irrigation systems based on acequias (irrigation channels) and even the names of the towns and villages (Alhama comes from “al-hammam”, an Arabic term for “thermal bath”), evoke its Moorish past.
Famous historic figures such as El Zagal, in 1489 and Boabdil, the last King of the Moorish Kingdom of Al-Andalus, visited Laujar de Andarax. King Boabdil took refuge in a palace, which still stands in Fuente Victoria, near Fondón, after suffering the loss of his kingdom to the Spanish Catholic Monarchs.
The Moors resented the way the Christians were treating them, which was the reason for several uprisings, such as the one in 1500, when the mosque in Laujar de Andarax was burned down. It was being used as a refuge by the Moors.

In 1568, during another uprising in The Alpujarras led by the Moor Aben Humeya, bloody battles were fought in this area, such as that of Guarros (Paterna del Río), where the Christian troops of the nobleman Marqués de Mondéjar killed 4.000 moriscos.
After the end of this sanguine war, the Moors were definitively expelled from The Alpujarra and the region was repopulated by Christians.
The area only recovered economically in the 19th century, thanks to mining activities and the exports of Ohanes grapes. The landscape of The Alpujarra was once again filled with vineyards and fruit trees, as a reminder of the flourishing agriculture, which had made its villages famous in Moorish times.s cristianos, protagonizaron varias revueltas, como la de 1500, cuando la mezquita de Laujar de Andarax, donde se escondían los moriscos, fue incendiada.

Fuente: www.dipalme.org