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Eleven kilometres east of Lanjaron is ORGIVA (also spelled Orjiva), the "capital" of the western Alpujarras. It is closer to the heart of the valley but is still really a starting point; if the bus goes on to Capileira, you may want to stay on it. If you're driving it's worth noting that petrol stations become scarcer from this point on. Orgiva is a lively enough town, though, with a local produce market on Thursdays, and a number of good bars and hotels. On the main street is a sixteenth-century Moorish palace which today houses various shops. A yoga centre, Cortijo Romero, just 1km east of town, is a sign of the times hereabouts; Orgiva, and surrounding farms and villages, are attracting a growing band of expatriate "New Age" Europeans. The mercado building in town has wholefood stalls and the occasional juggler, and there's a tepee village , "El Beneficio" on the edge of town, where assorted Europeans and their offspring endure freezing winters under canvas. For budget accommodation , one of the nicest places is the pretty Alma Alpujarrena (tel 958 784 085; ?18-27), a little beyond the traffic lights at the town's main (and solitary) intersection, with a leafy terrace restaurant. Cheaper rooms are to be had at Bar El Semaforo (?12-18), set a little back from the traffic lights along Avenida Gonzalez Robles, and on the way in there's another decent hostal , the recently refurbished Hostal Mirasol (tel 958 785 159; ?18-27), which has rooms with and without bath. Orgiva's campsite (tel 958 784 307; open all year), with a pool, bar and restaurant, lies 2km south of town, reached by continuing along the road where the bus drops you. For food both the Alma Alpujarrena and the Hostal Mirasol do good tapas and reasonable menus . The best tapas, though, are at the Bar El Semaforo , particularly the calamares . For good meals at reasonable prices try the quiet, family-run Mirasierra at the bottom of town. The mountains behind Orgiva form the Sierra de Lujar , running into the Sierra la Contraviesa . The whole range of hills on the south side of the valley was once densely forested, indeed many years ago the whole of the Alpujarras was well covered with trees. But in 1980 a great forest fire swept for miles along the hillsides, scorching the life from the trees but leaving the wood undamaged; tens of thousands of acres of forest were ruined overnight. It's alleged that a pulp paper company paid hoodlums to start the fire - the next day they were buying up the dead trees at a fraction of the real price.
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