20.04.2019
After some delicious Churros in a hidden local bar, we take a stroll through Lanjarón, known as the entrance gate to the Alpujarra, and follow the route of water. Lanjarón highly values its water, there are fountains everywhere, with poems about water written on tiles, and shops sell huge bottles for people to fill up their own water.
The most popular bottled water in Spain is from here, so you might have come across the name of the town already. In a corner we see an old woman filling up water and Rodrigo helps her to lift it in the car. As a thank you, we get four oranges she’s picked in her orchard in Lanjarón. They are sweet and juicy and most likely the best oranges I have eaten in a very long time.
We drive towards Capileira to experience more of the Alpujarra. At 1436m, it is the highest of three villages in the Barranco de Poqueira with steep streets and breathtaking views of the Sierra Nevada. Our plan was to hike from here, however, the weather is unfortunately not the best. It’s raining most of the time and we spend about 1h30 in a restaurant, eating a huge menu, just to avoid the horrible cold and wetness outside. When the rain stops, we take a walk down to some balconies from which you can see into the valley. We can watch more rainclouds coming up our way, creating a beautiful atmosphere.
The rain reaches us very fast, pouring down on us and suddenly adding hail to the mix. We run up to a restaurant, hide our cameras from the weather and hustle to our car. By the time we arrive, we are completely soaked. But it was worth it – the cloudy spectacle in the valley reminded me of the atmosphere two years ago on Tafelberg.
Located a couple of kilometres below Capileira is the beautiful town Pampaneira. We are lucky, the rain stops the moment we park and we get to take lovely photos in the fog.
After this, we decide we’re ready for the beach and better weather. Our last stop on the way to the coast is Rules Dam on the river Guadalfeo.
We then chase the sun on our way to Nerja and as soon as we see the coast, we feel happy and cheerful. It’s been too much rain and clouds in the last couple of days. The weather in Nerja is still quite greyish, but the temperature is slightly warmer and we’re not completely freezing anymore. I’ve still been using Rodrigo’s pullover, so I can’t wait to give it a good wash ;-).
Our apartment in Nerja is lovely, after our check-in we take a short stroll down to the beach.
Parking in Nerja: It’s free everywhere, if you don’t find a place to park in the city, there are two free car parks a little bit outside and several protected ones, but they cost quite a lot.
We’re both really tired from the day but we do want to go dance salsa in THE club of the town, which happens to be opposite our apartment. The odds are not in our favour though, coming to Spain around Easter has one big disadvantage: Most clubs, shops, restaurants, etc. have different opening times than usually, if they even open.
Instead, our day ends with an episode of Jack Whitehall and his Travel’s with my father – one of my favourite travelling series out there.
Julie's Travels 