Bubión to Pitres

We have traded the close confines of the narrow Barranco del Poqueira for the wide expanse of the area known as La Taha. Although we are only one ravine away from Bubión, about five km as the crow flies, the topographical differences are striking. In Bubión, the view from our windows was framed by the walls of the barranco. Here, we can see peaks from the Sierra de Gádor near Almeria to the mountains of Africa across the Mediterranean. We loved the powerful strength of last week’s surroundings, and I think we are going to be just as thrilled with this week’s.

One thing that hasn’t changed is the peace and quiet surrounding our house. We never heard any noise in Bubion except the wind and the birds. This week we are staying at a cortijo 1.5 km NW of the village of Pitres. Its isolated location means that again we are hearing only the wind and the birds - a slightly different mix, with a nightingale on our first night here!

La Taha gets its name from the word the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada used for the administrative divisions they created here in the 14th and 15th centuries. The current group of eight villages in the area joined together in one administrative unit in the 1970s in order to save money through greater efficiency in public services. Pitres is the largest village of the eight and serves as the capital. We have a week here, a week in Mecina-Fondales, and 5 days in Pórtugos (all part of La Taha) before we return home.

It’s all new to us because on previous trips we have taken a high mountain route from Capileira directly to Trevélez , the highest village in Spain. I’ve always wondered what the villages along the lower route were like, and now we will get to find out.

Two things that stand out from our journey today are first, the tremendous views we had from above of Junta de los Ríos where we had walked to from Orgiva two weeks ago; and second, the enormous bulk of seven day’s worth of groceries all bought at once in Pitres. We had more bags than we had hands between us - had we even wanted to carry them to the cortijo, which we did not. We called a taxi, and the driver turned out to be the owner of the cortijo we are staying in. He brought us here for free!Read more