La Sierra de Aracena

Hoping to leave the rain behind us, we headed into Spain, arriving in La Sierra de Aracena - a beautiful mountainous region in the north of Huelva Province. Sadly the rain followed us, and with increasing vengeance - so after one night in the van, being battered non stop by torrential thunderstorms and lightening, with no prospect of this easing over the forthcoming week, we took the plunge and rented a lovely rustic house for the week - Molino Rio Alajar - just outside the beautiful village of Alajar - a maze of quaint cobbled narrow streets with a central church and plaza.



Alajar

Unfortunately the rain got worse (and photo opportunities limited 😟) - SO disappointing for us (much appreciated by the locals 🤣) but at least we had a lovely house to bunker down in for the week 🤣 Again, not able to do all that we had hoped, but despite this, and the torrential rain (and flooding), this is probably my favourite region we have visited so far. Here are some of the things which we loved about this region.


The natural environment is stunning - a real authentic charm of oak, cork and chestnut forests, interspersed with quaint old cobbled footpaths and drovers tracks, fast flowing rivers, limestone gorges and an abundance of green foliage. We did manage a couple of walks exploring. Came across an old abandoned village which is now undergoing regeneration, as people are opting for village life

Old mule track

Along the Rio


A rare dry moment to get out!



Around the Molino


Towards the abandoned village


The region is famous for Iberico Jamon - apparently the best in Spain! The black pigs roam freely, on extensive farms amongst old oak forests, as their diet is entirely acorns. This apparently is what creates the intense unique flavour, and of course makes it super expensive 😃

Black Pigs - a specialty 


Of course we had to try it - TBH it was hard to avoid it as it seemed like this was the only thing which restaurants served 🤣 But it was quite amazing - a really intense flavour.

Jamon with fried potatoes and eggs - very traditional and extremely tasty 😋

 

Even the cerveza pump is a leg of Jamon 😂


Many of the houses in the surrounding countryside don’t have car access - donkey travel seems to be the order of the day! We were chatting with our neighbours, Klaus and Melanie, walking by with their donkey laden with provisions from the village - they have no road access to their farm! We couldn’t get the van to our house either 🤣

Donkey travel

With the abundance of cork trees, La corcho (The Cork) is a restaurant in the centre of Alajar - famous mainly for its amazing cork ceiling. Of course we had to see it, and inevitably sample the Iberico Jamon once again 😃

Cork ceiling in the restaurant


Iberico Jamon


Beautiful white villages throughout the landscape, with small holdings and fincas dotted around the countryside. Almonaster la Real was a really picturesque white village (and where we spent the first night in the van). Lots of beautiful flowers, orange trees in full fruit, wrought iron fixtures and fittings, and lovely little Christmas touches 😃

Castle in the distance - Almonaster La Real

Almonaster La Real

Getting ready for Christmas 😂

Beautiful mosaic sqaures - Almonaster La Real

Marmalade oranges identifiable by their double leaf



An interesting sign in the main plaza


And last but not least, our beautiful house at Molino Rio Alajar was truly stunning. Six individual houses set around an old farm, by the river, run by a Dutch couple Peter and Monika. So much thought and attention seemed to have gone into the design, both within the house and the outdoor surroundings.

Our House at Rio Molino Alajar

Beautiful reception area

Stunning grounds at Rio Molino Alajar

Ruby settling in nicely 😂

Beautiful terrace area

Our house was called Conejo (rabbit) - lovely touches throughout



Couldn't have been without this 😂



So, despite the truly awful weather, we totally loved our week at Alajar, sheltering from the rain. The area is beautiful, stunning scenery, very traditional ways of life, and totally charming - catering for tourists, but not compromised in its authenticity - almost a throwback to earlier times 🤣






Comments

  1. Anonymous18 December 2022 at 05:23

    Looks beautiful and Ruby seems to be enjoying the cottage too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jane18 December 2022 at 08:47

      It was really stunning but the weather didn’t do the photos justice - shame. Ruby was very happy there 😃

      Delete

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