Alpujarras I: Lanjarón

This morning we got up at 8.00, oversleeping half an hour. We met up at the “Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones” (The congress center) with the bus and the about 20 other people going on the trip to the Alpujarras. And guess what: We have our camera up and running. You can see pictures from our trip in the picture section.

The Alpujarras is the name of the canyon south of the Sierra Nevada. The area is known for both its architecture and its production of ham, cheese, wine, water and olives, and this trip were to intrduce us to them all.

Our first stop was the main city of the Alpujarras, Lanjarón. This city has a good setting on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada and lies at the entrance to the Alpujarras. This pueblo (countryside village) is mostly known for its water… The water that comes down from the Sierra Nevada is bottled here by one of the biggest water-selling companies named after the village; Lanjarón. This water is exported around the world, while far most is consumed within Spain.

Once a year this small village turns itself into a watery mayhem in the days of the 22nd and 23rd of June at the annual water festival. The concept is pretty simple: poor water on everything and everybody. Best compared to the worlds biggest water-battle. Tourists are adviced not to bring cameras, mobile phones and other electric equipment to this event as they are bound to get soaked.

Well anyway, we stopped for a small hour where we saw some of the small backyards and studied the city architecture, built to encompass the masses of water that from time to time comes down from the mountains.

From here we were off to the small village of Pampaneira.