Las Alpujarras

As you might know Jose and I love spending time at rural houses around the south of Spain. It is one of our favorite ways to travel and see new places and just recently we headed out east to the Alpujarras region for a long weekend. The Alpujarras are a mountainous area dotted with cozy white villages extending from Granada into Almeria. We spent the first few nights in a tiny town called Laroles after crossing the Sierra Nevada and then the last in Trevelez which is the highest village in Spain. We enjoyed hiking, good food and relaxing by the chimney.


Our hike ended up being a bit longer than we had planned but the views were beautiful. Poor Cooper by the end was exhausted. This hike was about 9 kilometers long and wound up through the mountains passing an incredibly old chestnut tree. The weather was just about perfect during our whole trip, warm during the day and cooling off at night.

One of our requirements when we book a rural house is that there be a chimney. Usually the other amenities are quite basic, a small kitchen, bathroom and bedroom but a fireplace is a must. Whenever we move again in the future I am going to look for a house with a chimney. There is nothing like vegging out in front of a fire when it is chilly out. Cooper loved it.

My one beef with this vacation were the windy roads through the mountains, especially the one that took us through the Sierra Nevada to the first pueblo we stayed in. Not only had it snowed recently but in some parts there was only enough room for one car to pass. It got to be a bit nerve-wracking at moments. Then later on to get from one village to another we had to travel on twisty roads which made me a bit car sick. The view of Trevelez (above) was quite beautiful as we drove in on our last afternoon.

One of the other things we enjoy doing when we travel is trying the local or typical food available. Whenever we go to the mountains we know that the food will be hearty. In the Alpujarras we tried migas (fried bread crumbs pictured above), their special type of jamon, fried rabbit, garlic soup and some amazing meat. The food was awesome.

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