Mecina: Almost to the river

Ned, Roman, and Floyd (the dog) made it close to the crossing of the Río Trevélez below Fondales today, while the rest of us confined our walking to less perpendicular realms.

The trail below Fondales is very steep, but it leads to three interesting historical sites. The first is the bridge known as the Puente Romano de Fondales, although it is more likely medieval, since its existence is documented only from the 12th century. In following years, it would have been an important link in the silk trade. Its single semicircular stone arch matches similar Roman constructions, which may be how it got its name.

(Note re today’s video about the bridge: The Río Trevélez is a formidable barrier crossed by only one road bridge in its entire length. This forces any vehicle wanting to travel from the western Alpujarra to the eastern Alpujarra to make a lengthy detour up to the village of Trevélez (Spain’s highest village). However, the river’s narrow, deep barranco is crossed by four medieval footbridges, meaning traffic had more direct connections in the Middle Ages than today.)

Next to the bridge are the remains of the Molino de Fondales. It’s a flour mill from the 18th-19th centuries. You can still see the caz (water channel) that carried water from the river to the cubo (pressure tower) and the arched carcavo at the bottom of the building where the water exited the mill.

Across the river from the bridge are the Carihuelas de Fondales. These stone steps were carved into the rock of the northern slope of the barranco. They were part of a system of royal roads 1.5 to 3 m wide that ran from La Tahá
to the Sierra Contraviesa. Like the systems of acequias, these caminos reales must have taken an incredible investment of community labor from the Middle Ages until the mid-19th century. Today this particular section is part of the GR 142 Ruta Medieval.

We finished up our visit with Roman, Teresa, and Floyd with our best celebratory meal of the trip at La Cueva de Mora Luna in Mecina. Who would guess that a little restaurant in a tiny village would have specialties ranging from roast pork to samosas to gluten-free pizza! Marie tried the lamb chops, and everybody had apricot cake for dessert. The staff treated us like old friends after our meal there yesterday, so it was a great ending to a special visit.

Tomorrow we move to Pórtugos, our last village on this trip.Read more