Bubion: 1572

Donald Gray, the architect who loved the Alpujarra, notes in his sketchbook that in 1572 Bernabé Moreno arrived in Bubión from Plasencia looking for a new life. The Christian authorities gave him a 'suerte' that would have included a house (the one in the drawing above and photo that follows) that a few years before was inhabited by a Moorish family now expelled from Spain. It was a very different house from the ones Bernabé had known in Plasencia where the roofs are made of tiles. Now he had to learn the art of caring for a flat launa roof. Fifty more came with him from Valencia, Catalonia, Portugal, and Castilla; twelve from Galicia; and two from Navarra. There were also five or six “old Christians” who already lived in the Barranco de Poqueira before the Muslim uprising and who had avoided being martyred at the hands of the Moors in the Plaza de los Martires in Bubión.

In his four sketchbooks about the traditional architecture of the Alpujarra, Gray gives many precise details. I just realized today (after being here for six days!) as I was looking at his chapter about Bubión, that his illustration of the typical wooden balustrades almost exactly matches the balustrade on our staircase in this house. What great attention the owners paid to vernacular design when they renovated the ruin.

Javier told me that Casa Las Alegas is about 500 years old, and some houses opposite the church are probably around 1,000 years old. When this house was first built, the village possibly had a mosque, not a church.

The living room and bedrooms used to be the main house with the stables next door where the kitchen (with the great ceiling ) and a small bedroom are currently.

The main house was fine until it was abandoned for decades, with the roof collapsing eventually in the 90s. The stable, however, remained intact, sheltering chickens, mules, and goats until 2005.

It used to belong to a lady called Encarna, nicknamed "La Poza", who was on her own until she adopted a boy who had lost his parents. He inherited the house. It was eventually bought by a Frenchman who fell in love with the area. He renovated several houses in the neighborhood, but not this one, which was bought by Javier and his wife in 2003. In 2005, they rebuilt the main house using the same materials as in the original, and renovated the stable into the kitchen and a bedroom.

Today was the perfect day to truly enjoy the house. We woke up to thunder and lightning with the heavy rain (snow in the mountains above us) continuing most of the day. We used the time to firm up our plans for returning home in three weeks. Why didn’t we do this sooner! The bus we wanted to take from Granada to Madrid is already sold out. Luckily, there are seats on another two hours later.Read more