Day Drives

Two separate times we have made days out of driving up little windy roads that come from the coastal town into the hills and stopping in the little towns that sit in these hills.

The first trip had us driving east towards Almeria and then branching to the north. We first came to Albunol, which seemed to be a very dilapidated town, so we kept on driving until we made it to Sorvilan, which was much more charming but had yet to develop the bars and restaurant required to entice a tourist visit. I suppose this is “chicken or the egg” type scenario where the potential proprietors of such places need to see a steady flow before opening up for business and the tourists need something to make them stop before a place gathers steam amongst the tourist. Sorvilan was very pretty but it did not compare to the higher Pueblos Blancos that had highly developed tourist trades. It seemed to be hovering between the state of neglect seen in Albunol and at the possibility of being a “hidden gem” tourist town.

Stomachs were growling so we stopped at the first place we came to, a “road house” type establishment at the intersection of two roads. When we arrived the place was almost empty making us wonder about our choice but it filled up over the next hour and the one server was overwhelmed so we paid at the bar and headed back on our way. I mention this because the payment of servers is on a flat wage basis (no tips) so operators are much more inclined to under-staff than overstaff (often the case in the US since servers make a tiny wage and are usually required to clean when not working). Many times the bars we have visited have been operated by only one person.

Our drive took us over a ridge and into a beautiful part of the Alpujarras, away from the plastic covered greenhouses that overwhelm the coastal hills and lowlands. We stopped at a slightly angled flat topped hill that looked out over a river valley to Orgiva and the more elevated Peublos Blancos beyond. Anika and I climbed this small peak and enjoyed the wonderful views while Angie helped Vasco look for sticks. We drove home and were pretty much exhausted.

Our next trip into the hills was about two weeks later with my folks. We began in Almunecar (coastal city) and drove north into the hills through Jete and Otivar and then turned off to go to Lentegi. Lentegi is amazing as it looks out over a vast valley that is surrounded by mountains. We were starving and found a restaurant with panoramic views over the valley. The setting was further enhanced by a paraglider soaring out over the valley. We got back on the main road after lunch and wound our way through the mountains all the way to Granada. On this route we encountered several micro-climates and went from mountain desert to an elevated grass land where there were horse ranches. We also went in and out of the rain. It was an amazing drive!