The Alpujarra mountains, aproximately 45 kms. from Granada city and 35 kms. from the mediterranean coast, are as much part of Granada as of Almeria province.
It is well known for the beauty and peacefulness of its white towns, its mountain landscapes, the balconies full of flowers, its friendly people and the atmosphere they create and most importantly the spectacular backcloth of the Sierra Nevada. All of these attributes led to it being designated a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO, as well as a National park and a Nature reserve, especially for its native flowers and distinctive ecosystems.
To know the architecture alpujarreña is to make a trip in the time until finding its origins in the Berber tribes who inhabited this area. Constructions of similar characteristic are found in the Riff and other places throughout the Mediterranean arc. The Alpujarra also still have many features of Berber culture, particularly in everyday houses and in their unique irrigation aqueducts that farmers are still using.
Its style adapts to the mountainous surroundings, following its geographic features. The houses have a staggered form, with a Southern or to opened spaces orientation to take advantage of the good weather. Nowadays all the whitewashed towns shine, but at other times their materials camouflaged perfectly with the landscape, obtaining a complete integration. The houses are built with stone, mud, slate, launa and wood of chestnut tree. Materials from the surrounding area that are perfectly integrated with the slopes and the weather conditions, providing an absolutely bioclimatic house.
The houses are arranged one on top of another, following the slope of the mountain, giving to the streets a winding and chaotic layout. Another typical characteristic of the architecture alpujarreña is the chimneys, topped with a hat formed by a laja and a castigadera stone.
The history of Alpujarra is almost as important because it was the last refuge of the Arabs in Andalucia. It was here that Boabdil, the last Moorish king, lived for some months after the Christians captured Granada. And, it was to the Alpujarra that the Moors, who refused to convert to Christianity, fled and found refuge during almost a century before they were finally expelled.
Located between Sierra Nevada and the Mediterranean Sea, it is an almost virgin region, ideal for the rural tourism and the practice of adventure sports. Among the settlements that make up this district we must draw attention to the villages of the Barranco de Poqueira, which are: Capileira, Pampaneira and Bubión; la Taha – made up of Pitres, Ferreirola and Mecia Fondales; Trévelez, Lanjarón, Alpujarra de la Sierra (Mecina Bombarón, Yegen, Golco and Montenegro), Busquistar, Orgiva, Portugos.
