The region of pueblo blanco white mountain villages known as La Alpujarra clings to the southern flanks of the Sierra Nevada. It is carved by deep, sheltered valleys and gorges which run down towards the Mediterranean. The region is famous throughout Spain because of its unique micro-ecology, which is created by its proximity to the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Its terraced farmlands are constantly watered by the melting snow from above, creating a high-altitude oasis of greenery, which stands in dramatic contrast to the arid foothills and coastline of much of Andalusia. The area is ideal hiking or cycling terrain; but make sure you have the proper equipment - the average altitude is 1,500 metres above sea level.

There are around 50 villages in the region, whose history dates back to the time when the Castillians took over Granada in 1492 and forced all the city’s Moors (Spanish Muslims) to convert to Christianity. Those who refused took to the hills, settling in this remote, inaccessible area and creating the last Moor stronghold. Constant pressure from the Christians led to a bloody uprising, the Morisco Rebellion of 1568, which was ruthlessly crushed. Later the villages were resettled with some 12,000 Christian families brought by King Philip II from Galicia and Asturias in north-western Spain. However, these unique hamlets have retained their traditional Berber architecture - terraced clusters of white, box-shaped houses with flat clay roofs, similar to those found in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

Perhaps the most picturesque villages are those on the slopes of the Poqueira Gorge. The first village, Pampaneira, bustles with crafts shops and restaurants, as does Bubión, further up the gorge, with its large square church tower set in a paved plaza. To savour the authentic Alpujarra, go to Capileira at the top of the valley and walk down from the main road into the lower streets of the village, where the rocky streets, overhanging passageways and stone houses give a flavour of how things used to be. You can still see red peppers and tomatoes being dried on the flat clay roofs, among the distinctive round chimneys.

The capital of the region is Órgiva, in the lowlands, and the village of Trevélez - famous throughout Spain for its superb mountain hams, or jamón serrano - is, at over 1,470 metres above sea level, the highest village in Europe, overhanging a fast-flowing river and plunging mountain valley.

One of the many great travel books written about Spain is devoted to La Alpujarra - Gerald Brenan’s South from Granada, which recounts the adventures of a young Briton who, after serving in World War I, walked through Andalusia in search of a cheap place to live and write. He discovered the tiny village of Yégen, where he rebuilt a ruined house. In his book, written much later after he became a well-known journalist, Brenan describes the difficulties of getting such highly-strung aesthetes as Virginia Woolf and Lytton Strachey up the river gorges on mule back, as well as his bucolic existence among the local peasants. However, the book helped to put La Alpujarra on the international map.

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