We’ve been here a while and our Spanish has only improved slightly. It’s been a bit like hanging around a restaurant’s kitchen for ages and learning only how to peel potatoes. It’s surely now time to make a tortilla. We do our best watching the breakfast news about floods, drug seizures off the coast and … Continue reading
We pulled off the motorway to Granada, stepped out of the car and were ankle deep in a sea of yellow oxalis. Spring’s unusual weather continued as splats of rain reminded us that summer hadn’t quite yet arrived. Dwarfed by dead palm trees we walked up a short incline. We were at Tablate in the municipality of … Continue reading
While perusing a local shop aimed at healthy people – hikers, trekkers, climbers etc – we came across a cute book all about our local mountain range – mainland Spain’s highest, second only to the Alps in western Europe: the Sierra Nevada. We never cease to marvel at its beauty as we drive to Granada, … Continue reading
Poco a poco, Órgiva is changing; but not in any big way. This relentless rain reminds us of those Japanese TV endurance games where contestants have pepper dusted into their eyeballs – only, in our case (and much of Spain), it is to: ‘endure a never-ending rain shower and all that this entails.’ This includes: bored … Continue reading
A few weeks into the new year and Órgiva’s town hall have finally returned from the local café, and – with the input of the Andalucía tourist board – have produced…er…something: Sencillamente Órgiva – Simply Órgiva. (Whenever we see the word ‘simply’ we always think of the fine sausage company from years ago in London, but enough of … Continue reading
Seeing as it dominates the town centre, it’s no surprise that we’ve featured Órgiva’s church previously. We captured it today as low pressure from North Africa nudged its way over the Alboran Sea into Andalucía making the skies dull and grey. No doubt when the 1933 photo below was taken it was a glorious day … Continue reading
1971, it was a very good year…for films: Fiddler on the Roof, Play Misty for Me, Diamonds Are Forever and, of course, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. But like any year, there were flops including The Last Run (you’ve never heard of it, right?). We have to come clean and say we hadn’t either. However, … Continue reading
The sleepy and genteel town of Lanjarón is peppered with both fountains and bars, several of which we visit regularly. A favourite over the last year is Restaurante Asador Parque on the road out of town, in the direction of Granada. We watched its construction and thought ‘not another restaurant – how can they all compete?’ but … Continue reading
An idea to remove the five metre high cross in Órgiva’s Plaza de la Alpujarra has gathered pace. Erected in the late 1950s and known as `The Cross of the Fallen’ it commemorates victims of the Spanish Civil War – but those who were on Franco’s side. At a recent town hall meeting a majority of councillors … Continue reading
Like the other tourism films on this blog, we didn’t lift a finger in producing it because, this time, we’ve been busy cleaning Saharan sand off every surface in sight. It came courtesy of last week’s rain which painted the Sierra Nevada orange like some awful 1970s dessert. The tango plume has gone and the … Continue reading
A walk into town passing pink almond petals floating in puddles, battered from branches by the rain. It’s dull and grey and there’s a trail of people heading slowly towards Órgiva’s church. The bell tolls; another funeral. The local rivers carry muddy rain water towards the Rio Guadelfeo. The shops and bars are all but … Continue reading
This post may be of interest to those who know this area well, in particular, locals who knew ‘Upper Camping’ – officially Camping Puerta de la Alpujarra. As of today it has, literally, bitten the dust and looks like a modern day Pompeii. It’s a sad sight and (was) a landmark – its red pyramid-like towers … Continue reading
Recognise this? It’s Órgiva’s church – La Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Expectation – before someone decided to rid its facade of charming trompe l’oeil detail and cover it up with the bland colour it is today. Maybe it’s had other designs since the cover-up – polka dots perhaps – but it’s sad it doesn’t look like this … Continue reading
If you visit La Alpujarra, you’d be foolish to ignore the fantastic Museo Casa Alpujarreña, next to Bubión’s church. It’s a typical house of this area, barely altered since its previous – and final – occupier lived here. A time-capsule of a former home, it’s as if someone entered one day and asked for the … Continue reading
It’s been a strange few weeks; warm weather, fires across the mountains near Lanjarón, howling winds to wake the dead and, now, a return to mild temperatures. For the last two days much of southern Spain has become a theatre stage of yellow dry ice – only that it’s Saharan dust, obliterating the Sierra de … Continue reading
