Report by Derek Carr & photos by John Carr.

On Sunday 7^th June, the 47 members and friends of the Miraflores Bowls Club were treated to a very special day out with a visit to the Alpujarras region. The Alpujarras region lies between the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the Mediterranean. With its deeply wooded river gorges and quaint villages with their own unique architecture the area is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful regions in the world.

With an early morning start the first part of the journey included a welcome stop for breakfast at the Venta Rio Frio Restaurant. Toasties and coffee or tea were served in a particularly attractive area in the restaurant and this all went down very well. Even more so when the owner, Paco, invited us to view his equestrian museum, which was at the back of the premises. It turned out to be a most fascinating extra, as on display were a collection of carriages, clothes and horse related objects, all associated with bull fighting or horse shows. We all left there feeling we have had tremendous value for money.

Our next stop was on the outskirts of The Alpujarras. It was a short one to enable us to get our first view of the panoramic splendour of the area we had come to visit. Interestingly, we had stopped very near to a group of wind turbine machines, the ones you see from the road. The nearest was less tan 100 metres away and it was incredible to see just how big they are up close.

From there we made our way to Lanjaron which, from Granada, is the first town you come across when visiting the area. Lanjaron is a well known spa town with natural water which is considered to have medicinal properties. It boasts a 12th & 13th century castle built by the Arabs and situated on an almost inaccessible hill. On the 8th March 1550, the entire population of Lanjaron sought refuge in the castle as they wee under attack from Ferdinand The Catholic. 300 Moslems died, among them their black chief who killed himself by throwing himself off the tall tower. The party were amused to here from the organiser of the day out, Derek Carr, that death is forbidden in Lanjaron, due to a whim of one of the mayors.

We were now headed for Pampaneira, the first of 3 very attractive and quaint villages which lie further up the mountain. The journey was in part quite a tortuous one and a number of the members were very relieved when we finally arrived there. But their anxieties were quickly forgotten after a browse round the village, particularly when examples of the local craftsmanship of weaving were on display in abundance. Such a pretty and interesting village and it was here that lunch had been organised at The Hostal of Pampaneira. Those who had ordered for their meal the typical Alpujarra meal were delighted with the food before them, consisting of patatas, longaniz (Spanish sausage), morcilla (black pudding), cerbolla (onion), jamon (ham) pimientos (peppers) and huevo frito (fried egg). Alternatives were there for those who did not want to try the local dish. But with beer and wine being served with gay abandon throughout the meal, no one left the restaurant feeling they had not had tremendous value for money.

Once again we headed upwards, through the next village of Bubion and onto Capileira. Capileira stands at 1,436 metres above sea level and is the second highest village in Spain. With a browse around the back streets of the village the unique architecture with its flat roofs and round chimneys was even more apparent and the views of the mountains along with their deep gorges were amazing.

It was time for us to go but with a journey just over 2 hours ahead of us, John Carr kept us all entertained with a quiz which lasted most of the journey. Bill & Sandra Mann proved too intelligent for the rest of us and won the prize for the best score. Derek thanked John for laying on the quiz and then a vote of thanks all round was given to Derek for organising the trip. Both members and guests went home having been absolutely delighted with the day and hoping that another would be arranged in the not too distant future.