The
people of Nigüelas village in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada National
Park are known to their countrymen as Los Lentos - 'The Slow Ones.'
"It's
true enough," says Mercedes Jimenez, "we might do things slowly…but
that's because we do them right!"
Eight years of hard and careful work
have passed since Mercedes and her husband Paco decided to take on the job of
saving this 16TH century mill and transforming it into one of Andalucía's
most enchanting family-run rural hotels. The old white-washed storehouse and the
stables were also converted into stylish and spacious suites and the homestead
became not only a favourite rural retreat but also a piece of living history -
a traditional mill, which is still capable of working in the same way that it
did four hundred years ago.
Ancient Moorish acequia irrigation channels carry
gurgling water from the peak that forms the property's spectacular backdrop. The
water runs past the ancient irrigation pond (now reincarnated as a swimming pool)
and under a canopy of apple, quince, almond and olive trees and past pots of Andalucian
geraniums and creeping bougainvillea. It flows under the floors of the old mill,
cooling it in summer and creating that restful, lulling murmur that has given
Granada province the name of 'land of whispering waters.'
As
a popular Spanish phrase puts it 'anything is possible in Granada,' and Alquería
de los Lentos is perfectly positioned to take advantage of the attractions of
one the country's most varied and exciting regions.
The unique pueblos blancos
(white villages) of the Alpujarras valleys are just twenty minutes drive away,
along winding, cactus-lined country roads. At first sight the distant villages
appear to be patches of snow, lying under the shade of the mountains or draped
along the tops of brutal ridges. But, with the Spanish sun beating on your back,
you know that this is impossible. The timeless, white-washed tunnels and the cobbled
alleyways here still bear a marked resemblance to other 'sister-villages' just
a hundred miles away in the Rif Mountains of Morocco.
Here you are in the
very heart of the al-Andalus of the Moors and ideally positioned for a tour of
southern Spain's cultural 'Golden Triangle.' Just fifteen minutes from Granada
- with its magnificent Alhambra Palace and the Generalife - you are also within
day-trip distance of Cordoba and, a little farther removed, from Seville. |
