Pitres: to Atalbéitar

We learned a new Spanish word today: bermejo. When used as an adjective, it refers to a reddish brown color. It is commonly used to describe ginger hair or a reddish complexion. In our case today, it described the color of the river we crossed to get from Pitres to Atalbéitar. We’ve seen photos of the ferruginous springs around Pórtugos where we will be in two weeks, and we saw iron-affected water in an acequia near Lanjarón, but we never imagined that a an entire river could be running with iron oxide tinted water, so it was quite a surprise to come upon the Río Bermejo this morning. We won’t forget the meaning of that word anytime soon.

We started out from Cortijo Jiménez on another clear, blue-sky day. We have been so lucky with the weather on this trip! It’s just a joy to step outside and realize you’re going to get to spend the entire day in such pleasant weather. After working our way through Pitres, we picked up the GR 7 and followed it down to cross the river. The trail down was steep, but not scary; however, the trail up the other side added some ledges with steep drop offs!

Atalbéitar was the home of the architect Donald Gray, so it is a special village for admirers of his work to visit, similar to what admirers of Gerald Brenan must feel when they visit Yegen. In fact, Brenan (author of South from Granada: Seven Years in an Andalusian Village) and Gray knew and encouraged each other.

As we walked through the village, we could see why it had such a profound influence on Gray. It is a traffic-free space (all cars park at the entrance to the village) where neighbors naturally meet in the plaza as they go about their work for the day. Gardens and flowers and water touch every corner of the space. It’s small enough that everyone knows each other and can participate meaningfully in the governance of the village. These are the same conditions that Gray strove to create in the enclaves he designed within Marbella and other cities on the Mediterranean. He deplored the concrete skyscrapers that overtook the vernacular architecture.

We were particularly interested in seeing the two community bread ovens mentioned in the ADR fichas. We found a spot that matched a Gray painting which included one of the ovens, but there was no sign of the oven itself. Just then a neighbor opened the door to the house below the oven site, and when we asked him about it, he pointed out the changes that have been made in the 25 years since Gray sketched the scene. The oven is indeed gone and a window has been added to bring more light into his house. He also told us where to look in the village for Donald Gray’s house. We found the location, and the garden matches the scene that I have seen in some of Gray‘s videos. On the way there we stumbled across a school that teaches traditional crafts (like Gray’s Lebrija institute). On its wall, it displayed a wooden window covering from Mudejar times. The village was then called "Harat al-beytar", which translates as "Barrio del Veterinario".

After a snack in the quiet tree- shaded central plaza, we walked back to Pitres and got there just in time to snag six more whole-grain rolls from the bakery and 14 apricots from the weekly market. The kind vendor also gave us a taste of a new fruit to us: cherimoya, also known as a custard apple.Read more