The Alpujarra on BBC4

Rageh Omaar, the BBC journalist usually seen wearing a flak jacket in a war zone, was in Granada and the Alpujarra on BBC4 last night in the final episode of his mini-series “An Islamic History of Europe”. It seemed a pretty superficial exploration of a vast and infinitely rich subject to me - apart from anything else, how can you do a whole history of Muslim influence in Europe without mentioning the Ottoman Empire? - but he did get to sit on Chris Stewart’s terrace drinking mint tea, and that's not far from our house and so worthy of mention on this blog. The cheerful evocation of ancient battle at the Moros y Cristianos enactment in Velez de Benaudalla was fun. Apparently nobody wants to dress up as a Christian because the Moors have better swords, and the town enacts two battles with contrasting outcomes during the day of the fiesta, so that everyone gets to win at least once.

Here's a picture of the Moros Y Cristianos from our own village: