We rented a car in Granada for a week and planned to spend the first couple of days in the Alpujarras. We are currently in a lovely rural house very close to Órgiva. I have a perfect view of orange and olive trees by the house and Sierra Nevada mountains in the distance. Only a few minutes ago a shepherd and his flock passed by the front of the house. The snow on the hilltops is almost gone. This part of the country is famous for its food (olives, ham, honey) and nature but it is specially remembered for the white houses facing the south hillside of the sierra.
Órgiva turned out to be a bigger town than I thought. I believe it could perfectly win the tittle of the “big city” around here. This weekend the town is celebrating their Fiestas so locals are all excited talking about it. We decided to buy some meat for barbecue and take it easy with some beers, honey rum and also purchased A LOT of honey from the area: honey from the mountains (sierra honey), orange blossom honey, holm oak honey and honey with walnuts.
Backpackers from all over Europe seem to stop here to eat and to rest. We saw a few tourists at Orgiva’s Cafe Baraka where you can even have showers for 3.50 euros if you come before noon. During the holly week the south of Spain is really busy with the religious celebrations. Luckily we are travelling right before and it is easy and cheaper to book hostels and transportation.
Today we drove up to Trevelez, the highest village in Spain. The road is very narrow with pronounced steeps and curves. The never – ending mountain view is phenomenal, you could see the huge group of hills and the little patches of white houses spread along like pieces of a puzzle. All the time I felt I could squeeze the clouds. The day was partially sunny so the picturesque white houses looked very romantic.
Trevelez is beautiful but I just want to write about its famous ham. My friends are saying I have a love for ham and I am not going to deny it. I have never seen so much ham in my life until today. I think everyone in this little town is envolve in the ham business in one way or another. The town is full of factories and stores selling Trevelez ham and of course I did not leave the town without trying it, the ham is delicious.
The weekend is finishing without me getting used to the look of the mountains and the sound of the birds and the roosters. I love Spain or as I like to say “El paÃs del jamón”.
