casasierra: 2008

If you'd like to book for 2009...

...please get in touch as soon as possible. We already have a couple of bookings for May. Easter weekend and the weeks either side are still available. We'll be in Juviles from 20th December to 1st January, so if you need us, call my Spanish number (+34) 697914136.

More non-native species fun in Granada province

A pair of Guardia Civil were called to a motorway service station at Loja (in the West of Granada, past the airport) to “arrest” a Coati last weekend. This racoon-like omnivore is native to South American forests, but this one, presumably an abandoned pet, was found rummaging in bins for food. The elite law enforcement professionals managed to lure the Coati into a cage using bits of bread, then “detained” him in a police cell while they phoned around zoos to see if anyone wanted him, but nobody did. (I’d have had him, but they didn’t call me.) It calls to mind the old joke about the Guardia who finds a penguin one morning. “Take him to the zoo” says his commanding officer. Later that day the chief sees the Guardia walking down the high street, hand in hand with the penguin. “I told you to take that bird to the zoo” he says. “I did,” replies the junior officer. “We had a lovely time, and now we’re going to the pictures.”

The best of the Alpujarra

El mejor de la Alpujarra is the title of a little trade fair currently taking place in Ugijar, with about 50 local producers showing off their wares. I love how Spanish journalists get their priorities right - of the products listed in this article, the non-edible items like blankets and pottery get the most perfunctory of mentions, then the writer gets on to food and drink and practically salivates the following list onto the page: embutidos, jamones, repostería morisca, mieles, vinos, aceites, quesos, licores, dulces, turrones y mermeladas. Then there's a bit about Servando Vargas (son of Servando Vargas I and father to Servando Vargas III), who makes cakes. But of course, it's not sufficiently enticing merely to be told that he specialises in sweet bakery products. Instead, we're treated to this mouthwatering rundown: rosquillas, soplillos, tortas de chicharrones y de aceite, cuajados, galletas caseras, bollos de miel, pan de bizcocho y de aceite, roscos de huevo, perrunas y otros artículos, como por ejemplo, licores de hiervas y de membrillo.

Holiday Rentals

I've just put the house back on Holiday Rentals. The site claims to be the biggest and best advertising website for self-catering rentals in Europe, if not the world, and has links to international sites and translation into a number of languages as part of the service. We were on it before, but although we got lots of enquiries, they didn't translate into bookings, so I let it lapse. They sent us a high proportion of time-wasters (notably Americans who didn't seem to know that Spain is in Europe) and a gentleman who wanted me to send several thousand dollars to Nigeria, which he promised of course to repay several times over upon arrival in Juviles.

On the other hand Villarenters gave us only about four leads over the same period, but each resulted in a proper booking. HR charges a fee to advertise but no commission, while VR gives you a free listing and charges 10% of the booking, also handling credit card payment and a security deposit, which is handy. I decided to have another go with HR as they seem to do very well for another property we know just outside Juviles. That and the fact that I'm a sucker for special offers, and they gave us a discount for renewing the listing. So go on and prove me wrong and book our beautiful house through Holiday Rentals. I need a week's booking to pay for the ad.

If you operate a site - or you know of one - that our house should be on, please post a comment or email me with details. I'd be interested to read opinions from other property owners. También en español.

Hola, hola, hola...

I just advertised our Spanish house on a website for Strathclyde Police, offering the boys in blue a discount of 10-20% depending on the season. It's only fair to extend the invitation to other police forces around Britain and indeed the world, so if you're a copper, you can save a little silver. However I wouldn't want anyone to think I was showing unfair favouritism towards the law - so if you can show proof of membership of a generally recognised trades union of thieves, rogues or ne'erdowells, I'll let you have the same deal.

Bees for tea, anyone?

It's cold and miserable in Glasgow, snowy in the Alpujarra and the news is profoundly depressing this weekend. But as Shelley puts it, "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?" We've taken a booking for May 2009, by which time some of these colourful little fellows should be back in our part of Spain. Bee-eaters, abejarucos, are regular visitors to the Alpujarra, albeit not in great numbers. I've only seen them once, but you never forget seeing birds as colourful as jockeys.

Live webcam...

...of the ski-slopes at Sierra Nevada here. Keep refreshing your screen and you can have endless fun watching Spaniards falling over in the snow. This is only a few miles from our place as the crow flies, but the crow would have to ascend about 2,200 metres (as the ski lifts start at about 3,500m). Meanwhile, snow is forecast for everywhere above 600m this week, so Juviles should see a white out.

More happy clients

Our latest visitors, Vicki and Paddy Salmon (from just outside Paris) loved their stay despite cold, wet weather. Paddy wrote "we thought the house terrific - you have great taste and imagination and have done it up so well. We only had one afternoon when we could sit out on the terrace, but what a view!" He sent me this watercolour of the view in question.

The ridge in the mid-ground is the hill on which stand the remains of Juviles' moorish fortress. There's not a lot to see architecturally speaking, but it has great views back over the village and up towards the Sierra, or in the other direction, down into the valley where our local market town of Cadiar stands, about 300 metres lower down.

Paddy and Vicki own a beautiful holiday rental property in Normandy; take a look at it here.

It's all downhill from here

The ski season at the Sierra Nevada (above our house) starts a fortnight earlier than last year, with 11 lifts and 27 kms of pistas opening on Saturday 15th November. Lift passes are on sale at a discounted rate if you're quick, and our house is available until 20th December, and then from 2nd January, for about £250 or €300 a week. Latest news from the ski station here.

New flights from Ryanair

Economic and environmental concerns be damned! Ryanair has just started taking bookings on four new routes between the UK and Malaga, which is good for us, particularly as the new motorway is bringing the journey time to the Alpujarra down towards the 2 hour mark. And of course Malaga is a pleasure in its own right, despite the horrors of the Costa del Golf that starts just the wrong side of Ikea. The new flights go out of Prestwick (or Glasgow Prestwick to the optimistic), Edinburgh (one of Britain's more civilised airports), Stansted and Birmingham. Now if we could just get someone to fly to Almeria or Granada from Glasgow, we'd be away to the races.

Spain's hangover

The jury is out on whether Spain will get through the economic crisis in a better or worse state than the rest of the world, but any downturn is going to feel like a disaster in comparison with the unprecedented boom of the past twenty years or so. At least they don't have to give all the EU money back, as they've already spent it on roads, railways and, probably, excellent shellfish. Interesting article from The Economist here. It's so beautifully written it makes me want to subscribe. And use words like fissiparous and autarky whenever possible.

The rain in Spain...

...fell mostly on the Alpujarra last week, when our unfortunate guests from Paris were staying. The brilliant AE Met weather forecast site for Juviles has a great feature - it gives you a percentage of probablility of precipitation. Last week it was between 50 and 90% depending on the day, and this week it's between 0 and 5%. It also has max. and min. temperatures, wind speed and direction, UV index and provincial snowline level in altitude, which for most of the winter hovers about 1,600m but occasionally zooms down to us at 1,200m. By contrast, the best the BBC can do for Glasgow tomorrow is the rather unscientific safe bet of "heavy rain". I spoke to our guests though, and they loved the place despite the weather. Hopefully they'll go home and encourage all their Parisian pals to book our house for next summer, when of course it will be too hot to move.

Incidentally it's a myth that only the British talk about the weather. In my personal experience the Spaniards, the French and the Americans never shut up about it, and I understand it's a national obsession in Japan.

Early snow

It looks like it might be a good ski season in the Sierra Nevada this year, as they've had a couple of major snow falls already and it's still only October. Traditionally they open the ski lifts on December 1st, but I think they may bring it forward if conditions allow. No snow in Juviles yet, although it looks like it's going to be pretty cold this week - while we have guests from Paris staying in the house, no doubt frantically searching for firewood as I type this. Or making their way to Tino's bar to keep warm, one or the other...

Not such an innocent corner of Spain, then...

In my recent post about Lorca's remains I referred to the Alpujarra being practically oblivous to the civil war and the horrors of the Franco dictatorship. I picked that up from a number of literary sources and readily accepted it like many (including local PP supporters and ex-pats attracted to what they see as a bucolic paradise) who find benign ignorance the most acceptable explanation for the Alpujarra's absence from the written history of the period. It seems it doesn't stack up. As an article here in the Olive Press (in English) details, the Alpujarra is dotted with mass graves of people murdered by the Nationalists, including a burial site at the El Carrizal barranco between Lanjaron and Orgiva said to contain up to 4,000 corpses. If true, that would make it the biggest of the killing fields in Spain. Incidents of Guardia Civil murdering "Reds" in Torvizcon and Castaras are reported here too. For any English-speakers interested in Southern Spain, The Olive Press is worth a bookmark. Home page here.

Easy rider

Most places, when huge gangs of guys on customised motorcyles roll into town, they lower the shutters, lock up their daughters and play dead. In Juviles they put a few kegs of beer in the church square and start frying eggs. Pictures and video of the 3rd annual bikers' rally on the town hall website here. Notice the lovely weather for late september.

Chocolate quail, anyone?

The hotly contested title of best new tapa in Spain this year goes to Carlos Valenti of Madrid, who's just won the IV Concurso Pinchos with cordoniz con bizcocho de chocolate. That's quail with chocolate cake. The sponge incorporates the quail's liver for "a magical effect in the mouth". You won't get anything quite that sophisticated round our way, but then the tapas are free in the Alpujarra, and you get what you're given. Some memorable offerings in Juviles include Tino's omelette with ketchup, Susi's spicy snails and the old favourite, a baby morcilla (black pudding), served scalding hot and sitting on a small round of bread. Less successful were the boquerones (anchovies in vinegar) strewn over a plate of crisps that everyone seemed to think was a good idea a couple of years ago. The combination didn't do anything for either ingredient, and seems mercifully to have died out. Best tapa in the village would probably be Tino's chops cooked directly over the wood fire during the winter. I also have fond memories of a big plate of fried liver with chips at Susi's when we'd just unpacked the van in the dark after a five hour drive from Seville. There was nothing to eat in the house bar a packet of marzipan, and all the local restaurants were closed, so you can imagine how pleased we were when the plate of offal arrived in front of us, unbidden.

Looking for Lorca

Conservative Granada was largely on the wrong side during the civil war and the subsequent dictatorship, but it did produce one of the left's great poster boys in poet and playwright Federico Garcia Lorca. Murdered by Nationalists within the first days of the conflict and buried somewhere near the airport which now bears his name, he's the subject of a grisly bit of archaeology as crusading super-judge Baltazar Garzon has ordered the opening of several mass graves in order to find his bones. Here he is in Lanjaron in the twenties, taking the waters, naturally. According to Brennan and (ahem) Chris Stewart, the Alpujarrans mostly ignored the war and didn't really understand politics anyway. No change there, then.

More wildlife

In Juvíles we're used to wildlife invading, what with swallows and geckos making their homes in the house itself, and any number of invertebrates calling in from time to time. It comes as more of a surprise in Scotland. Yesterday I entered the dining room to find a distressed robin flying around, and when I tried to help it out it managed to trap itself in between the sashes of the window - I'd been painting the frames. After a couple of failed attempts to free it, the bird played dead while I lifted it up and carried it out into the garden. Its tiny heart was beating like a drum, but it flew off in what looked like a perfectly healthy state. I didn't have the presence of mind to find the camera, so I had to get this shot online. (Although they live in the UK all year round they've become a symbol of winter, and it seems to be against the law to photograph robins without snow.)

You might see a European robin while staying at our place in Juvíles; the distribution goes all the way down to Mauritania. Other likely sightings depending on the season include hoopoes, black redstarts, bee eaters, Bonelli's eagle, vultures and not far away on the coast, flamingos. There are supposed to be naturalised parrots around, though I've never seen one. There are lots and lots of sparrows, too.

The credit crunch isn't so bad...

...that your next holiday has to be in a caravan in North Wales. Why not visit a village where there never was any credit to be crunched in the first place, namely Juviles, Granada, Spain? Book a week in our beautiful house for approximately £300. With plenty of room for five, that's just sixty quid a head for comfort, tranquility and staggering natural beauty. A glass of beer or wine in a local bar is between 1 and 1.50 euros, and comes with a complimentary tapa, while a three course lunch with wine can still be had for less than €10. Alternatively you can cook yourself, using fabulous local produce in our fully-equipped kitchen. You can rent a car for about a hundred quid a week in Spain, and walking in the beautiful countryside costs nothing. Which means that if you can sort yourself out with a good flight deal, you can have a holiday at our place for less than it costs to stay at home.

We're currently taking bookings for most weeks up until the middle

of December (we're booked for Christmas) and for all of next year, so visit our permanent site to check availability. The alternative could be too grim to contemplate...

"The Alpujarra is in tears..."

A quote from today's Ideal, referring to the funeral in Cadiar of a young local woman who was murdered early this week by her partner. The couple were both serving in the military and the crime occurred in married quarters in Granada city. Uncomfortably, Cadiar is full to the gills with folk gathered for a fiesta, complete with all the usual bunting, flags, kids' entertainers and wine fountain. The sombre procession of military personnel carrying a coffin through the streets to the church must have been rather surreal amongst that lot. The paper says everyone in Cadiar knew Encarni - which didn't need saying, really, as everyone knows everyone in the Alpujarra. Story here, in Spanish.

Messages from the Alpujarra

I just added the Alpujarra Messageboard to my list of links. It's a treasure trove of fatalistic posts by people who bought houses in El Golco three years ago and still haven't had their electricity or water connected. There are postings of a more general interest, too, including the odd restaurant recommendation, news of fiestas, puppies looking for good homes etc. It's run by the people behind Blue Sky Escapes estate agency, but there's certainly no hard sell and they recently closed for new business anyway. See the link in the column on the right or just go here.

Poor unfortunate wee foca

Ideal Digital today reports on the entirely unexpected arrival of an injured seal - una foca in Spanish - on the beach at Motril. Makes a change from half-drowned illegal immigrants. The distressed creature has now been transferred to Malaga, where it's getting better, but nobody yet knows where it came from. Motril has a bit of previous regarding unexplained non-native species - read one of my posts about the town's famous social-housing python infestation here.

Late cancellation

Our house WAS booked for the week from Saturday 11th October (half term in much of Scotland) but they've cancelled, and we can't go. So if you'd like it, you can have that week for a small consideration - make us an offer.

Welcome to Strathguadalfeo

As if the Andalucian tendency to deep-fry everything wasn't sufficient welcome for visiting Scots, they've started making single malt whisky in Padul. That's just off the motorway between Granada and Motril, a stone's throw from the Alpujarra. I understand the malt, called Embrujo (which means "spell"), is made with carefully selected barley and the delicious spring water of the Sierra Nevada, which is a pretty good start. It's then matured - of course - in sherry casks, like many of our own classic malts, such as The Macallan. Embrujo launched with 40,000 bottles in June this year. I know this only from Pablo Amate's food blog here as I haven't yet had the chance to try it - I'll be looking for it at Christmas. For a less sophisticated Caledonian-Iberian synthesis, can I recommend the Possil equivalent of a tinto de verano? Mix equal quantities of Buckfast and Irn Bru. Drink quickly. Fight.

Still some half-term slots...

...as long as you live somewhere eccentric or send the kids to private school. Week commencing 27th October, (half-term for London state schools) is now booked, as is w/c 13th (Glasgow and some parts of Scotland). You could still have our place from about Saturday the 18th to 26th, which would suit you if you're in Edinburgh or some Northern English counties.

Well, what would you put on an apron?

In Britain, they sell novelty aprons with lingerie printed on them so that middle-aged men can project a hint of the risqué while they're ruining some sausages on the barbecue. Not in the Alpujarra. A specially customised apron around here carries the image of what really matters in life. Ham. To dispel any possible ambiguity as to the subject matter, the one on the left bears the word jamón in careful embroidery, above the picture of the cured hind leg of a pig. The one on the right curiously has the ham off centre, as if there was meant to be another image on the other side to balance it out, but the apron-maker just got fed up and stopped. I wonder what it would have been? A string of sausages, perhaps, or a couple of nice big black puddings?

Elsewhere in the impressive exhibition of work by the Juvíles library adult education group last month were these intriguing creatures, which might be cats. I'm not even going to attempt to think of something funny to say about them.

October half-term availability

The English, Welsh and Scottish schools half-term holidays are fairly spread out this year, and we've currently got availability for the main English week and weeks either side. Currently the house is:

- Booked for w/c 13th (Glasgow and other perverse bits of Scotland)
- Free for w/c 20th (Edinburgh and most of the rest of Scotland)
- Free for w/c 24th (some rogue counties in Northern England and Wales)
- Free for week commencing 27th October (London and most of the rest of England)

Apologies to the Irish and the rest of the world, but I can't be finding everyone's holibags for them and presumably you've already got the dates red-lettered on your calendars anyway. As for the poor old Spanish, they don't get half-term.

So knock yourself out and book a restful week in a beautiful house in an authentic Andalucian hill village. The kids can practice Spanish with the villagers while you enjoy the breathtaking view from the terrace and indulge in a few glasses of the idiosyncratic local wine. Flights should still be cheap for most weeks if you book now.

Euro, Doh!

Thanks to Jurdy at SpainExpat's forum site for bringing this to my attention. A shop keeper in Asturias found this skillfully re-modelled Euro in a bag of change. Nobody knows who morphed His Majesty into Homer, but one theory doing the rounds suggests it's the work of a shadowy republican group planning to flood the country with similar hand-manipulated currency. I doubt that, as it's a job that clearly took hours, if not days. And a Euro won't pay for a single caña of Duff beer these days.

Spain's Olympians return from Beijing

I was sorry to see Spain losing out to the US for the gold in the basketball yesterday. The game ended in a very friendly mood, I noticed, with the players hugging and high-fiveing each other. This is perhaps not surprising, as most of the Spanish players (presumably classed as Olympian amateurs for the Games) play for million-dollar salaries in North America and knock about with their adversaries on a regular basis. Away from the basketball court, Spain did less well than expected, and remarkably less well than the UK. We British won loads of medals, which is hardly in the spirit of the thing and certainly not to be encouraged in the future.

Anyway, here is an exclusive pic of "Team Esp" on their return from China. Or it might be some more of the fancy dress from the Juviles fiesta earlier this month.

While we're on the subject, why do we have to say "Beijing" when Spanish speakers can still get away with calling it "Pekin"? Shouldn't they be referring to the Chinese capital as "Veillin" or something like that, just to be fair?

Semana Cultural

We got back from Juviles last weekend after a week of wilting in the heat and enjoying the highlights of the Fiesta and the preceding Semana Cultural or cultural week. Highlights included old men eating fritters. Or not really eating fritters, so much as sitting back and admiring them.

Although a lot of the "events" were comically underwhelming and eccentric, it was brilliant. Juviles, with only 200 people, has a smaller population than many blocks of flats, and for the village to hold dozens of little events plus at least two whole night-long parties (I say "at least" because we left for Malaga before it was over) was really quite something. There were activities specifically for little kids, old folks and what I tend to think of as normal people, i.e. of my age, but most events had something for everyone. The Fiesta last Friday in particular was an extraordinary mix, with everything from a bouncy castle and kids' fancy dress to dancers in schoolgirl outfits that would make the hot sixth-formers in St. Trinian's look positively frumpy.

Best fancy dress by far was a little girl of about six dressed as a traditional Spanish abuela or grandma. Grey hair, black dress, pinny, walking stick, and the killer detail, pop socks with one rolled up and one down. This is not a great shot (from the ayuntamiento here), but this is her with some pals: She won the "most convincing abuela" competition, with the ladies below coming second and third. They were furious, as you might imagine, and the atmosphere on the winners' podium was sour.

Coming soon to this blog, the ropey "Medieval Market", several bands, and the adult education group's handicraft exhibition. Sorry I don't have any pictures of the sexy dancing girls, but I somehow forgot where my camera was when they were on.

A Level Results Out Today!

No pictures of unusually pretty 18 year-old girls jumping in the air with results in their hands here I'm afraid, although if you're looking for those, you'll find them everywhere else in the media today. Just thought I'd try to grab your attention and ask you if you'd like to rent a lovely house in rural Spain during late August and/or September? A great place to relax for a few days before Freshers' Week/Gap Year. See the permanent site here.

Yes, you can drink the water.

This is a turn-up for suspicious British tourists throughout the Mediterranean. Granada officially has the best tap water in Europe, and by extension - probably - the world. Story here, but as it's in Spanish, the sort of people who won't drink the water in Spain won't read it.

Edinburgh has nothing on this.

We're back in Juviles from Friday, and joy of joys, our visit coincides with the fifth annual village Semana Cultural, or cultural week. Events include a bookmark-making workshop, a lecture on back pain and a "tasting" of beer with fried eggs and bacon. There's also something called a "frozen bubble competition", and a free breakfast featuring 80 proof anis spirit and "typical" sweets. You know that episode of Father Ted when Fun Land comes to Craggy

Island......

Interesting one; there's a verbena (outdoor party) at 11pm on Friday, and the listing says it's "amenizada por el grupo Fuente Nueva". I read this as "amenazada" or "menaced by", but then looked it up in the dictionary: "amenazar" does indeed mean to "to menace", whereas "amenizar" (with an "i") means "to enliven". I'm so glad I clarified that. Having witnessed Fuente Nueva's performances before, I expect I'd have been none the wiser.

Anyway, I'll be taking pictures during this orgy of cultural treasures and will post some of them here in ten days or so. Meanwhile, if you want us between the 1st and 9th August, call my Spanish number: (+34) 697914136.

Sustainable Spain

I just found out about the Alpujarra Sostenible pressure group and blog, which you can visit here. (It's mostly in Spanish but there is some English copy too.) The organisation aims to protect the environment in the Alpujarra, one of the most important areas of biodiversity in Europe. Although the region remains breathtakingly beautiful to the eye of the visitor, it's clearly not beyond the threat of encroaching development. Road building in particular is unnecessarily brutal in some parts, and there's the constant threat of invernaderos (plastic greenhouses) and urbanizaciones, fortunately all at lower altitudes than Juviles. One benefit of the real estate depression could be less pressure on beautiful areas like ours for new homes - there's currently a million empty apartments in Spain.

The power of now

When I check the visitor stats for this blog, I find that on average, about eight people look at it each day. That includes me and, most days, Annie. Two days ago, though, I mentioned Radovan Karadzic (while he was on the front pages of the broadsheets) and got 82 visitors (Tuesday) and 53 (yesterday). Clearly Bosnian Serb war criminals are a bigger draw than stray dogs and rabbit stew. Sadly though, Karadzic has nothing to do with Juviles so he won't be back on a regular basis. And none of these 135 new visitors is interested in booking our house, or even clicking on my ads, so he's not contributing to our wealth. Perhaps we should take up alternative medicine; it clearly earned Karadzic a few dinar.

The wine that doesn't travel....

Today The Guardian ran a story on what to do with the kind of holiday booze that tastes great in its country of origin, but when you bring a bottle home in an attempt to recreate the exotic atmosphere of your trip, it just makes you feel sick and ends up taking up space at the back of a cupboard for years. Personally I've never suffered from this problem, and any bottle of cachaca, Thai whisky or slivovitz that's made it home with us has been consumed with relative enthusiasm and speed. (There was some caraway aqvavit that outstayed its welcome once, but that came from Ikea in Hillington so I'm not sure it qualifies.) Anyway, the story reminded me of this recipe for pigeon cooked with patxaran, so here it is.

Incidentally patxaran (that's the Basque spelling; it's pacharan in Spanish) is a digestif made by macerating sloes in anis - it's not unlike sloe gin. Served over plenty of ice, it tastes like cough medicine and soothes an over-worked tummy a treat. I should have had some to alleviate the food-poisoning I contracted in Chester last weekend, but that's another story.

Ingredients: 4 whole pigeons or 12 pigeon breasts, 2 onions, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 ripe tomatoes, skinned, ½l meat stock or water, ¼l patxarán. Oil, salt & pepper
Preparation: Heat the oil in a casserole and sauté the onion until transparent. Brown the pigeons or breasts slightly with the onion, add the garlic cloves, flambé with the patxarán, crush and add the tomatoes and add the meat stock or water. Cover and simmer gently for around 20 minutes for whole birds (ten for breasts) then check to see if they're done to your liking. Check seasoning and serve with a green salad and some kind of potatoes, maybe mashed.

Comedy priest found alive

We've had enough animals here for the time being, so today I'd like to celebrate the discovery of Father Ted actor Dermot Morgan(left) near Belgrade. He was a fine comedian and reports of his death saddened us all, so the revelation that he's been been alive and practising alternative medicine in the Serbian capital all these years is great news.

Strangely enough, he reminds me just a bit of that Radovan Karadzic, the war crimes fellow.

Arbubilla link

I'm very fond of the hoopoe. Known as arbubilla in Spanish and upupa epops in scientific Latin, all its names seem to be onomatopoeic renditions of its call. They're not uncommon around Juviles and we saw a pair the other week when we were driving nearby. This is not my photograph, sadly; it's from Iberia Nature. The site currently has a lovely bit of writing about hoopoes in Barcelona by Lucy Brzoska here.

...and here's an old one.

Not the most flattering shot of the old girl, but this is Luna, the most sweet-natured dog in the village. She won't come in the house (unlike the cats), or indeed in anyone else's home as far as we know, so someone must have clearly defined her place to be the street, one way or another, when she was a pup. Instead she will sometimes hang around outside our door, sort of guarding us, we like to think. She certainly seems pleased to see us when we're in Juviles - although her rounds take her to various positions around the village depending on the weather and the action, and she's no doubt pleased to see everyone she bumps into. She's a gentle, quiet dog and I've never known her to bark. Whereas every other dog in the village enjoys a damn good shout on a regular basis.

We have a new friend.

This fellow belongs to Tino, the owner of the eponymous bar at the end of Calle Altillo (i.e. about four doors away). And in his tiny mind, he (the cat, that is, not Tino) believes that our terrace belongs to him. Here he is simultaneously absorbing the heat from the rock on our roof and enjoying the shade. He's one of three we saw quite a lot of the other week, his siblings being a very fetching dark tortoiseshell and a striking all-black with a shock of white on the end of the tail. This one is by far the friendliest/cheekiest. Their mum sensibly confines herself to the bar, where she avails herself of the constant flow of tapas.

Juviles joins information superhighway

We don't have ADSL at the house but should you stay there, you can check your e-mail for free at the Guadalinfo facility in the village "library", just two minutes walk away. Guadalinfo is an initiative by the Junta which aims to provide free internet access to every community in Andalucia with 10,000 people or fewer, so Juviles (currently listed as 202 souls) certainly qualifies. The library has about six terminals and when I used it earlier this month, there was only me and the Czech family from the Dragon Verde in there. The kit is brand new and the connection is fast. It's open to the public Mon-Thur 15.30-19.30 but it seems to be OK to wander in at other times if the door's open (I was there Friday about 1pm).

...and home.

Yep, we got back yesterday so don't call the Spanish number. It was very, very hot. Pictures shortly.

We're off to Spain at the weekend...

On Sunday we're flying from John Lennon International to Federico Garcia Lorca for a week's stay at our Spanish home in Juviles. (Interesting that Liverpool and Granada both named their airports after famous cultural figures. Up here in Scotland our airports are just called Glasgow and Edinburgh. Prosaic, but preferable to having an airport called, say, Irvine Welsh International.) Anyway, 26 celsius and "cero probabilidad de precipitacion" sounds good. Expect some pictures of local wildlife etc. here in a couple of weeks.

In the unlikely even that you want us, call +34 697914136.

Mira, una culebra!

Someone found this dead snake a block away from the supposedly python-ridden Los Pisillos buildings in Motril the other day, although the workmen removing the roofs to get at the "nest" found nothing. I love the way the guy's pointing; "look at the dead snake! Don't look at the fag packet or the Coke can, look at the snake!"

Every city should have ...

...a big fountain to leap around in when your team wins. Unfortunately, Granada's teams tend not to win much, so people leap around in the Fuente de las Batallas (just off Acera del Darro, and near El Corte Ingles) when Real Madrid win instead. The other night though, it was the national squad beating Italy in the quarter finals of the European tournament that brought 3,000 Granadinos out to get soaked. I don't profess to know anything about football, but it appears that Spain's getting past Italy is a bigger triumph than if they win the trophy itself next week, against whoever. Here's the fuente with some revellers in and around it.

This is just ridiculous

As I expected, the attempt to fumigate the serpents of Motril failed - we learn in this Ideal article - and the occupants of the social housing blocks owned by the Junta de Andalucia are now getting brand new roofs. Watch this space for the imminent discovery of a stash of plastic pythons beneath the slates. Meanwhile, here is a worrying article that suggests more strikes are on the way. Selfish, I know, but this threatens our week's holiday, and that's serious.

A lynx's dinner

That rabbit recipe I promised:

1 big rabbit about 1.5-2 kilos, cut into small pieces
4 cloves garlic
2 onions, sliced
A can of tomatoes or half a kilo of chopped fresh tomatoes
Bay leaves and sprigs of thyme, tarragon, rosemary, whatever you fancy and have to hand
A slug of brandy
A glass of wine
Salt and pepper to taste
More herbs to serve (parsley, probably)
Oil
Brown all the pieces of rabbit, season and keep aside. Make a sofrito of onions, garlic and tomatoes in a casserole dish, preferably a clay cazuela. Add the herbs (retaining a small handful for finishing) and put the rabbit back in the pan. Pour in the brandy and set it alight. When it's burned off, add the wine. Bring to a boil and let the sauce reduce and thicken a bit. Then add water to at least cover the meat. Reduce heat to a low simmer, cover and cook for anywhere between an hour for a tender farmed animal to two for a tough old wild one. Check it every twenty minutes or so and top up the liquid if it needs it, making sure it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan. You could do it in an oven, in which case you could probably forget about it for a good while. When it's done, check seasoning and sprinkle the reserved green herbs. This is one of those dishes that British people think should be served with rice, but the Spanish would serve it with fried potatoes or, in the Alpujarra, papas a lo pobre. I fancy pasta with it, personally. A good green salad and plenty of bread and wine are of course essential.

No more on monster

The snake story from Motril has been well and truly eclipsed by the fuel crisis, and it's hardly surprising since one young man was killed on the picket in Granada - knocked down accidentally by a vehicle rather than in anger, I think, but tragic nevertheless. So I think we've heard the last of la bicha de los Pisillos; as far as I know the fumigation has been successful and if I read more I'll link to it from here. Before we say goodbye to La Señora though, top marks to the ad agency who handle the segundamano.com account. Sugundamano is a bit like ebay, and they've been running this banner ad - python for sale - since the story hit the headlines a couple of weeks ago.

No Gas

A national strike by truckers protesting about the price of fuel is causing major shortages in Granada province. The petrol station in Cadiar - our nearest - apparently ran out of gas yesterday (Monday 9th). It's such a big story it's putting the python of Motril in the shade, so to speak. Now police protection is accompanying a convoy of trucks through the province, so supplies should get through, but it looks like it's going to be difficult for a while. I just hope there's some petrol around by the time we pick up our hire car at Granada airport in three weeks. Story here.

Time's up for the Motril snakes

The Motril mother and her daughters are living on borrowed time now. The latest plan is to fumigate the roof tomorrow (Tuesday), once the human inhabitants of the block have been decanted. On the far right of this shot you can just make out the head of a snake - probably. Surely fumigation will only kill the snakes if they are under the roof when the smoke is applied, though? If they're sunbathing on the top again, they'll probably just sneeze a bit and carry on eating pigeon's eggs. It seems the caged-rabbit trap failed, as did an attempt by residents (reported at the weekend) to get the Junta de Andalucia to pay for a complete new roof. Link to latest here.

More Monster of Motril

The serpent story in Motril just gets better and better. Here's Fina, one of the more vociferous of the tenants at Los Pisillos, getting a wee shot in the fire department's hydraulic lift to look for the snakes, despite suffering from vertigo and an apparent inability to shut up. She didn't see a thing - "ni la madre ni sus hijas". However, the firemen planted a trap for La Señora on the roof, in the form of a cage containing a live rabbit. The idea is she'll slide through the bars and swallow the unfortunate creature, whereupon she'll be too big to get out again for at least two days. This plan doesn't take the "daughters" into account; the Motrileños assume the baby snakes will just die when they're deprived of mother's milk. Even funnier though - they were going to try this plan with two hamsters, rather than a rabbit. The hamsters escaped in the town hall and are still at large somewhere amongst the municipal paperwork, breeding. You really could not make it up. I love Andalucia.

The Monster of Motril

There are a few smallish snakes native to Granada Province but 2.5 metre pythons like the one currently terrorising a whole neighbourhood in Motril are not part of the natural fauna of the area. The beautiful creature (christened La Señora by locals) has been living in the eaves of an apartment block for three weeks, supposedly eating pigeons' eggs, and she has some babies with her. Looks like an albino Burmese python to me, though I'm hardly an expert, and she's clearly escaped from someone's flat. The old ladies of the barrio of Los Pisillos are in quite a tizzy, but the authorities have said there's nothing they can do and "anyway, she's not venomous". Follow this link for the story (in Spanish) in Ideal and watch the hilarious video. The head of the snake can be seen clearly over the roof slates and she doesn't look 2.5 metres to me - but maybe that's one of the babies. In one shot you can also see someone's collection of marijuana plants growing on a balcony. Interestingly there are two words for snake in Spanish - culebra means any old snake you might step on in the back yard, but serpiente is clearly the term for a drama snake.

Joke

Sorry about this, but I feel compelled to share a joke.
Q: How many Spaniards does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Juan.

CCTV Nazari

It seems a shame the authorities feel compelled to install hideous CCTV cameras in the Alhambra to "protect (both) the visitor and the monument" (story here, in Spanish), and I hope they manage to make theirs more discreet than the millions that blight the urban landscape of Britain and which do sod-all to reduce drink-fuelled anti-social behaviour. I've never noticed so much as a low-key graffito anywhere in the palace or the Generalife gardens, and it doesn't look like there's much of a problem to me. Of course, it may save money (once the cameras are in they'll cut staff hours). Ideal will no doubt be looking into that. There will certainly be an awful lot of footage of Japanese tour groups, and swallows. Of course had the Alhambra been built in the UK it would have been bristling with cameras years ago. And it would probably be closed for Health and Safety reasons anyway.

Happy campers

Another positive review from one of our guests below. This gentleman spent two and a half weeks in our place during April and May this year and despite being without power for a few days following a thunderstorm he was delighted with the house and the village. (He was a paying guest who found us through Villarenters, by the way, and so he has no particular motive for being nice!)

"This is a really nice house that is excellently equipped. The standard of the kitchen fittings is really good. The main room upstairs (living room, dinning area and kitchen) has wonderful views from the roof terrace. The house is in a good location in the village to get the best views. Juviles is a very good village to stay in. It is small, quiet and peaceful, but there are a few bars and a shop. It is close to the much larger village of Berchules which has a good collection of shops and eating places. Unlike many of the villages Juviles has many parking places on the main street, just a short distance from the house. This house is very warmly recommended!"

The power problem was caused by a blown trip switch. Fortunately our friends managed to get hold of an electrician and sort it out fairly quickly. We do get frequent power cuts in the Alpujarra and keep a supply of candles and torches around the place accordingly. As we cook with bottled gas and keep warm with a wood-burning fire, it's usually more romantic than irritating, and the power normally comes back on within an hour or so.

More lynx

The Iberian lynx is the most endangered feline species in the world and one of Europe's most beautiful predators. Visit soslynx.org for information and some impossibly cute pictures of cubs from the Spanish breeding programmes.

You can donate on the site if you're inclined, or buy a t-shirt or something, but it might be more constructive to bring your pet rabbits on holiday to Spain and leave them here. The dearth of rabbits since the disastrous arrival of myxamatosis in 1953 (then the haemorrhaegic virus in the 80s) seems to be the main threat to the lynxes. Although they will eat the odd bird if they get a chance, they're essentially rabbit-dependent. Spain has been famous for rabbits since Classical times, and the Iberian lynx (as distinct from the closely related and far more widespread Eurasian species) may only have evolved and survived because of them. Of course rabbits breed like rabbits, but they've yet to recover their numbers, despite the efforts of conservationists and hunting clubs. Now Spanish scientists have developed a combined vaccine that could bring rabbit populations back up to historic levels in no time if it works - it's still undergoing tests. (When I read this I wondered how they were going to catch the little fellows to inject them all, but apparently once the vaccine is injected into a few rabbits, they pass it on to their pals. It's that breeding thing again, no doubt....). Anyway, if the rabbits bounce back, it'll solve the lynx's problems, mostly. They'll still need to learn how to cross the road without being run over, though.

Coming to this blog soon and insensitively, at least one traditional Alpujarran recipe for rabbit. Meanwhile, here's another lynx picture.

Granada on-line

This is rather cool. Granada's new website allows citizens to register, apply, pay, complain, query and otherwise generally mither the life out of the town hall at the click of a mouse. If you've ever attempted to set up a direct debit to pay your water and refuse-disposal charges in Spain, only to be sent to several provincial government offices and two banks, you'll know what a step forward this is. The site is largely geared for residents but the "turismo" tab may be interesting to visitors. There are links for Alhambra tickets, the city orchestra, temporary exhibitions etc. Unfortunately the function for searching for tapas bars by area doesn't work very well. Maybe I should post a list of some good bars here sometime... http://www.granada.org/.

You say 'patatas', I say 'papas'

If you think the Irish take their spuds seriously, you should see what a fuss they make of them in the Alpujarra. The United Nations' decision to make 2008 the International Year of the Potato has gone down well in Granada (every year being Year of the Potato round here), and they're supporting the global initiative with a local competition. I love the precision in this article - if you don't read Spanish you can take my word for it.

Las bases del concurso: Pondrán participar todas las personas nacidas o residentes en Granada. Se admitirán una sola receta por participante. Los textos podrán entregarse en la Biblioteca Pública del Salón, o enviar al mail:. eplanells@granada.org, con fecha límite del 18 de abril 2008. Las recetas tiene que enviarse con letra legible u ordenador, con el nombre de la misma, ingredientes y cantidades y elaboración. Con su costo y foto del plato, si lo desea. Entre las recetas seleccionadas por un jurado, valorando 1º Bajo costo económico, 2º Utilización de materias primas del país de origen participante y 3º Originalidad. Para la concesión de los premios se establecerá tres categorías: Infantil: hasta 14 años. Juvenil, desde los 14 a 20 años y adultos, a partir de 20 años. La entrega de los premios se celebrará el día 23 de abril de 2008 alas 11 de la mañana, en la biblioteca municipal del Salón.

Anyway, the gentleman I'm quoting here is the estimable Pablo Amante (below), who writes a food blog in Ideal, the local paper for Granada. Now doesn't he look like a chap who enjoys his potatoes? Excellent recipes, wine articles and bits and pieces about Andalucian and other Spanish food at http://blogs.ideal.es/cocina/posts

This is where the money goes....

There's usually somebody collecting money in Juviles, and it's usually "pa' la igle'ia"; or more precisely the cleaning, restoration, roof or bell for said church. And a sweet wee 16th century building it is too, although there isn't much inside except for old San Sebastian (who's getting his annual stroll around the village in the videos in my last post).

Last summer the clock was finally reinstated, so I think the restoration is more or less complete. The bell rings on the quarter hour and you can hear it throughout the village. It's surprising how quickly you get used to it, although it can't be much fun for the bats roosting in the belfry. Above is a shot of the church taken from the town hall square, while below there's a longer shot from the other side, looking over the village from the mirador by the swimming pool. Our house is visible in this shot - it's the highest building on the right-had side, with three chimneys.

Book now - Haga reserva

See our permanent site... Visite nuestro sitio permanente...

My e-mail

Telephone - Telefono

Availability/Disponibilidad

Scroll down or click sections

Interesting sites - Sitios interesantes