Episode 35

Episode 35
Heading for Granada we drove through some rather pretty but very arid hills and mountains. We crossed a pass between two bare limestone mountain tops at around 1000m, then continued going up through a valley beyond. Passing through one large town and several villages all surrounded by olive trees: The olive trees are planted in rows marching up and over the hillsides like long lines of fat green soldier; there is little else growing, some yellow flowering gorse, some dry grass and wild herbs and some almond trees is about all. Any natural vegetation has all gone. Many of the olive plantations are fairly new and we saw a couple more of those tree shakers working harvesting the olives.
As we got nearer to Granada the land became even more arid and mostly it was almond plantations that we saw, though there were still some olives. I had read somewhere that Granada was in a green valley; well somewhere something was wrong because there is nothing green around here at present. Only some of the almonds are in bloom, and none are in leaf yet. A thick dust haze hangs over the whole place.
The main attraction in Granada is the Alhambra Palace complex standing on top of a hill with the modern city spread out below and the snow capped Sierra Nevada Mountains in the back ground. The Alhambra buildings have a reddish hue and are quite plain on the outside; it is their ornately decorated interiors that make them so famous, being one of the most visited tourist attractions in Spain. Built in the 13th and 14th centuries by the Moslem rulers of this part of Spain they appear very modest beside the grand renaissance Palace of Carlos V built in the early 16th century but never finished, its bulk stands right in the middle of the ridge and backs onto the other palaces.
Because of the great numbers of tourists who visit this site it was imperative that we start out early so we arrived at the ticket office just after it opened at 8am, bought our ticket and headed up into the grounds so as to be on hand when places opened at 8.30am. To visit the Palacio Nazaries (this includes all the Muslim palaces) we had been given a particular time slot in which to enter and that was 8.30 to 9am, so we got one of those audio guide things from a stall and went along to the palace and found that there were very few other people yet here. It had been best to come early:
The decoration of the stucco walls with their delicately moulded patterns of leaves, vines, geometric patterns and Arab inscriptions above the tiled plinths that reach nearly 1.5m up the walls are beautiful but then you see the ceilings and they are stunning. Different rooms have different types of ceiling. Some have wooden ones with small pieces of wood all inlaid to form stars, and all sorts of geometrics designs; they are not really inlaid as they are nailed with tiny nails onto a backing material, probably wood. The huge wooden doors are made in the same manner. Then there are the archways. Beautiful archways, some rounded, some the pointed horseshoe design, and some with mouldings that almost give a leafy outline within the arch. On the underneath of these arches there is what has been described at ‘stalactite’ mouldings. Little hollows and pinnacles that somewhat resemble what we saw in one of the caves we visited a couple of weeks ago. Much of these mouldings have been painted blue, traces can still be seen.
Then there are the courtyards always with a water element. In one a long pool that is nearly always calm as its sheltered from the wind, gives an almost perfect reflection of the tower. It is surrounded by myrtle hedges that are said to be fragrant but perhaps not at this time of year, I certainly can’t seem them. One courtyard has a fountain with the water issuing from 12 lions mouths but this is off for restoration at present so we couldn’t see it. Still the courtyard has 124 marble columns around the edge with a small pavilion at both of the narrow ends. The archways around that colonnade are all decorated with the stalactite mouldings. One of the rooms off here was believed to have been the place where the Emirs favourite concubine lived. On the floor, on both sides of a central fountain (gone for restoration) are huge white marble panels known as the two sisters.
One room has a domed ceiling of those ‘stalactite’ mouldings whilst another has a domed ceiling of the wood inlay in the form of stars that are said to represent the 7 heavens of Islam. Whatever it’s meant to represent its really lovely: Another room that is at present closed because of more restoration work has a leather ceiling.
The American writer Washington Irving lived in this Palace in 1829 at the time it was abandoned and in a very sad state of disrepair. It was somewhat due to his writings and an increasing tourist interest in such things that measures were taken to restore these palaces:
Having spent more than an hour looking around here we made our way out and along to the Palace of Carlos V. This is a square building but it has a huge round courtyard inside. Around that courtyard on two levels are stone columns and balastrading all made of some conglomerate rock. One the top floor is a fine arts museum with many paintings and sculptures by Spanish masters and a display of 19th century women’s dresses and gowns. The latter was a beautiful display: On the ground floor is another museum showing objects that have been found during archaeological excavations on this ridge. Coins, pottery, tiles, glass and many other things: Also one of the lions from the palace that has been restored. He is just waiting for his mates to be finished then they will all be re-assembled and put back where they belong.
From here we walked through the arched doorway known as the Puerta de Vino (wine door). This was the entrance to the Medina and where the merchants had to pay the tax on all goods brought into the Medina. Going towards the Alcazaba we were heading out the gate. We crossed a flat open area that was once a moat but has been filled in and large water cisterns are beneath and came to the Alcazaba with three towers and some ramparts on the end of the ridge overlooking the city. These date from around the 12th century and contained a military barracks, a public baths for the military personal, and dungeons. We climbed to the top of the watch tower and got a great but hazy view over the city.
Now we walked back through that Wine gate straight ahead past the Carlos V palace and came to a large church. It is also undergoing restoration and was almost bare; it stands on the site of a former mosque and next door we entered a house that was in the medina and there we could see the baths that once belonged to the Mosque. The house has been altered a great deal in recent centuries: Apart from this one house nothing else remains of the Median except what is being found through archaeological exploration.
Continuing along the ridge we walked through an avenue of cypress trees that have been tied and pruned to form the shape of high archways; on one side is an expensive hotel and on the other the Medina excavations. Then we came to a bridge over a gully and into the Gerenalife gardens. These were the gardens built for the pleasure of the Emirs or Sultans or whatever the Muslim rulers called themselves. These gardens contained more of the sculptured cypress trees along with beds standard roses, all pruned at present, and an arbour that would be covered in grape vines in the summer. Small gardens of pansies and pots and small beds of cyclamens provide a splash of bright colour at present along with the ever-present citrus trees with their yellow/orange fruit. Looking over the edge from this garden we look down onto the vegetable gardens that supplied vegetables to the royal households. They are still growing veg here; one plant looks very much like a thistle but it’s planted in rows and plenty of it so it must be good for something, the other veg we saw are broad beans. Looking over past the garden, accross the gully and there is the Alhambra straight in front of us with the Alcazaba towers behind it.
At the end of the gardens is the Sultans summer palace. A rather small place compared to the other but very cool and open. It has a couple of lovely courtyards one with a long pool and bordered by long gardens now almost bare and the other a much smaller one with a dead 700 year old cypress tree trunk wired up in one corner. From this point we made our way up a stairway with water running down channelling in the balustrade and people trying to take photos of it. Then a walk through some un-tamed garden area and another arbour this one with tall oleander bent to form an archway and so back to the entrance to gardens and the end of our tour hereabouts. We returned our audio guide and left.
Later we followed a suggested walking tour from the Lonely Planet book. This took us up some interesting narrow streets and cobbled lanes past an 11th century bathhouse not that we could see anything that looked remotely 11th century but then it was closed. We came to a view point where we got a great view of the Alhambra with the snow capped Sierra Nevada behind. Still very hazy: Passed an 11th century minaret with a cross on top, the mosque had been converted into a church long ago and the minaret into a bell tower. Then down through a street of tourist shops with a distinct Arab influence. We would have visited the cathedral but it was closed. The front of it is massive and has some beautiful carvings all in a caramel coloured stone.
I just mentioned those cobbled streets; I will tell you a little more about them: many are made with small rounded pebbles now worn a little flat on top and smooth and can be quite slippery. Then there is the cobbling with the pebbles that are a little longer and flatter and are laid narrow side up. Usually all cemented into place. These are often laid as a feature in a plaza or alley and can be in a special shape like a bird or an animal or just a geometric pattern and sometimes painted black or some other colour. You get this sort of cobbles in South American countries too. Another sort is when granite has been cut into small cubes and laid like pavers; it is not cemented in so that it easily comes loose even by someone tripping on it. It looks great when in good repair but as it does break up easily it usually has holes or edges that are falling apart. This we saw a lot of in Portugal and is another very common paving in Latin American countries.
Not far from Granada are the highest mountains in Spain in the Sierra Nevada and also a ski resort. The drive up is quite pretty through the hills but the dust haze was so bad that we couldn’t see any view back towards Granada. We were almost at the resort before we saw any snow at all and then it was only a little bit by the road side. Very little has fallen so far this season and what there is on the piste (the ski runs) has largely been made using the snow making machines. Apart from the runs the covering is thin and patchy. On the day we went up there a very strong wind was blowing so the lifts were not working with the result that no one was out skiing. Not much good for those people who rely on it for an income.
There is no road across the mountains at that point so we drove back to Granada and on towards Guadix to take a route over a 2000m pass. At that pass there was only some tiny patches of snow in some of the more sheltered spots and it didn’t look very recent. The lady in one of the tourist info offices says that good snow is still quite possible, it might come as late as May.
Continuing on around the southern flank of the Sierra Nevada we came to the area known as Las Alpujarras. This is an area of steep and deep ravines that descend off the southern slopes off the Sierras; there is some snow on the higher tops. Many of these mountain sides had been terraced in the days of the Muslims who grew mulberries on them to raise silk worms. Silk was a major industry in those times. When the Muslims were expelled in the 16th century and replaced with Christians from further north the industry died and so did the mulberry trees. No trace of them at all now; the terraces can still be seen but nothing other than a little dry grass is growing on them:
White painted little villages cling perilously to the steep terrain, the houses separated by twisting narrow lanes. I can’t work out what all the people do who live here though I think that a great percentage of them are elderly. There are a huge number of restaurants, cafes and bars along with plenty of hostels and hotels; however there does not seem to be a great number of tourists about at present though of course, in the summer it is very crowded with them.
All these little valleys, and there are several of them, flow into a larger on at the bottom where a great deal of citrus is grown. The cheapest citrus we have seen anywhere is for sale on roadside stalls in the principal village Orgiva; we got a big plastic bag full of oranges and mandarins for €3 ($5au). They are really sweet:
Then we were back amongst olives and almonds, predominantly almonds, the hillsides are a mass of white and pale pink blossom and we even saw a bus load of people picnicking amongst them, perhaps they were on an almond blossom tour. The road wended its way up through these orchards that are planted on so steep hillsides that all the nuts must roll right to the bottom. At 1300m we topped out and from the view point looked south towards the Mediterranean shinning in the sun. Between us and it was a steep descent and acres of plastic sheeting covering thousands of green houses and the dirtiest area of Spain with an almost dry river bed full of garbage, mainly plastic in one form or another. Generally speaking the country has been quite clean with garbage and recycle bins absolutely everywhere, never more that an few hundred metres from them.
If green houses can be so tatty as to be called shanty green houses then this is what these are. They are all shapes and sizes and though most of the plastic is clear there are bits of all sorts of other plastics that have been used to mend or patch sides and ends. Often that woven material that is used for fertilizer bags at home has been used and not only in white, but in green and black, some green shade cloth and the odd bit of hessian here and there. They are very ugly. As yet we haven’t been able to determine just what is growing in them, something tall, possibly tomatoes, the plastic is not clear enough to get a reasonable look.
The stretch of coast that we arrived at west of the city of Almeria is not a tourist area, it has a steep rocky shore and these plastic green houses. Out in the water there are a large number of small boats to be seen, they appear to be fishing boats.
With the coast not being all that interesting we turned back inland and drove up through more plastic green houses. Some are positioned just as precariously on the steep mountain slopes as the houses while there are plenty more on the valley floor.
As we climbed over the Sierra Nevada, the eastern end of them, we passed through a large area of very neatly terraced hillsides. Probably these were once all covered in mulberry trees now planted with almonds trees, mostly not yet in flower and the white painted villages stand out rather starkly amidst the dark of the surrounding terraces. From one view point all we could see was terraced hillsides and white villages with a deep gorge through the middle.
Crossing the Sierra Baza just a little further north we ran into thick fog then above the 1900m when we came out above the fog there was some snow. We climbed to just over 2000m and drove through a forest of pine trees, they have all been planted in rows and each one had a tiny patch of snow on its shaded northern side. On the north facing slopes there was a bit more snow remaining. We also saw 3 deer in this area. I think that they were red deer. Drove through fog again going down and then when we run out of it we saw spread out below a huge valley full of almond trees, we thought we’d seen a lot before but nothing like this quantity. Spain must produce a fair quantity of the world’s supply of almonds:
Before entering Jaen province we came to a large dam that is quite low and the country surrounding it is very similar to what the Americans term ‘bad lands’. An area of deeply eroded steep hills and ravines surrounded by higher mountains that are also steep and eroded, so that you can stand on the higher hills and look down into the ‘bad lands’. This is all very dry country and these hills have just an odd patch of dry grass or herbs (rosemary and thyme) and perhaps oak or pine tree to give a splash of colour to the otherwise red/orange colour of the soil and rocks.
In Jaen province we could immediately see how it could produce 10% of the world’s supply of olive oil. It is just about wall to wall olive trees. Even up the mountains they reach quite high on the rocky slopes and seem to thrive.
In the Sierra de Segura there are many view points where we could stop and look out over the lower hills towards the plains, it was very hazy so we couldn’t see a long way and the wind nearly blew us away, but for as far as we could see there were olive trees in any available spot. A few must have got the chop though as near the town of Quesada we saw a large solar farm under construction. It covers about 20 to 30 acres (8 to 12 hectares), the frames are all in place but only some of the solar panels have been put up. About a kilometre away there is another smaller area that is going to be another solar farm. We had seen a couple of small ones not sure if it was in Spain or Portugal but they only covered an acre or two, nothing on this scale. We had passed two large wind farms that weren’t working, not from lack of wind I can assure you.
One night we camped in the pine forest and in the damp morning air the smell of pine and wild rosemary filled the air. We drove out of the mountains and onto the plains of La Mancha, (Don Quixote country), this is wheat and barely country with many young crops in the fields.
Drove into the city of Albacete, it has some nice late 19th early 20th century buildings but not a great deal to see. One thing that did attract our attention was a shop window full of knives, all different, there were hundreds of them. There is a knife and scissor museum in the city but it was closed on the day we were there.
Heading north east from Albacete we came to the gorge of the Rio Júcar. This gorge is like a deep jagged gash across the flat landscape. We suddenly arrived at the edge of the cliff and the road descended in a series of hairpin bends arriving at the bottom beside a gently flowing milky aqua blue stream meandering its way past small farm plots, tall pencil pines and Spanish pine and bare gray frames of deciduous trees. The cliffs are sandstone in horizontal stratas, probably an ancient sea bed; the colours are soft, from white and grey through to a gently orange.
Alongside the stream there are a few small villages and many homes are dug back into the sandstone cliffs. One we saw was painted bright pink. In another village there were many shops with concrete fronts but dug back into the cliffs whilst on the other side of the river the houses climbed back up the almost vertical cliff one above the other. An old castle stood upon a pillar of rock at the bend in the river overlooking the village.
Heading roughly north from the gorge we passed through an area of low rolling agricultural land, plenty of young wheat or barley emerging and a vast area of grapes. Some of those grape vines are very old judging by the size of the base stem. Mostly they were cut back very low to the ground but in some fields they were on trellises.
Then we entered another gorge, not quite so dramatic as the Júcar but still quite impressive. This one was quite different, predominately red stone and not in strata; it still had some incredibly sculptured outcrops. A lot of pine forest along with the ilex or holm oak. I possibly had not mentioned it before but this oak is an evergreen, not a deciduous tree.
Making our way towards the city of Teruer we seem to pass through several more gorges, not deep, yet each one was a little different. As we neared the city we passed though a stone fruit growing area, the trees still asleep: It is a the poorest area we have seen so far. Most houses are not painted at all, just the colour of the raw brick or stone so they blend in very well with the redish hue of the landscape. Generally they are in fair repair; it’s just that the place has a much less affluent feel to it.
Teruer has seen better times apparently; over recent years the population has dropped significantly as people move to other places to find work. Just the same there is still a great deal of construction of new houses and apartments going on in the city. It’s a pleasant enough place with a cathedral dating from the 12th century. Its tower is the most notable thing; built in the Mudejar style and decorated with some green tiles it looks as much Islamic as Christian. The inside is said to be interestingly painted but the place was locked up tight so we didn’t get to see the inside. Around the town there are some lovely old buildings, probably 19th century, with ornate plaster mouldings around the facia and balconies, and fancy iron railings on those balconies.
We had seen a well decorated house in another town earlier. It has tiles laid in a decorative pattern around windows and doors on the ground floor, then on the 2nd floor it had a combination of tiles and painted art work with an ornate rounded balcony on one corner that overhangs the corner of the street. It has grabbed out attention as we drove through the town.
© Lynette Regan February 19 2008