Otras comarcas de la zona norte de Granada

The Marquisate of Zenete

Zenete or Cenete comes from the Arab word Sened, which means hillside and refers to the enormous natural wall of Sierra Nevada elevated over the high plateau. This image impresses when we arrive to this region from the river basin of Guadix with its clayey rills and suddenly it arises at the end of its immense plain the snowcapped tops of the mountain range.

This region had its importance in the past as a passing way between the coast and the peninsular interior, as proven by the Roman ways that plowed through them and the fortresses that mark its routes; but above all, its mining richness, its white mulberry trees plantations, its abundant water and the quality of its cattle pastures, converted the region in an attractive territory.

The most powerful family of Spain, the one of the Great Cardinal Mr. Pedro de Mendoza, received from the Catholic Kings this Domain for the services rendered to the Crown during the Reconquest. Inherited by his son Mr. Rodrigo de Mendoza, who was the first Marquis of Zenete, to which jurisdiction belonged the towns of Jeres, Lanteira, Alquife, La Calahorra, Aldeire, Ferreira, Dolar and Hueneja.

Mr. Rodrigo, an eccentric personage, ordered to build in only three years (from 1.509 to 1.512) the Castel of La Calahorra, an austere fortress which hold inside of it a Renaissance palace of Italian style, from where he brought marble of Carrara for his extraordinary patio. To carry out this building work he requisitioned all the load animals of the Marquisate and submitted the workers to hard working journeys, which caused the desertion of quarriers and processors, as proven by the documents of litigations of the period. But his difficult character is reflected above all in the inscription he put in the entry of the castle as a challenge for the Crown, which reads: “Este Castillo se construyó para guarda de los caballeros que sus Reyes quisieron agraviar” [this castle was built to guard the knights who their Kings wanted to offend].

In 1.570 he was siege during the rebellion by more than six thousand Moorish, who badly equipped, they could hardly do anything against his solid walls.

The last battle this fortress fought was of speculative nature, when it had to face a purchase attempt of its Renaissance patio by an American millionaire. Fortunately, it did not finished like the Castle of Velez-Blanco, and nowadays we can still enjoy this jewel, raised over a hill, facing the majestic peaks of Sierra Nevada.

The Alpujarra

Just a few territories of our country are as attractive and have aroused so amazement and emotion as the Alpujarra. Among the enormous bibliography that this land has generated there is an impressive range of illustrious authors, fascinated by its savage relief, its legendary episodes and its ancient customs, which they have collected in their works, unforgettable snippets of this region: storytellers (Gautier, Alarcon, Brenan), poets (Garcia Lorca, Calderon de la Barca), painters (Gustavo Dore), travelers (Richard Ford), botanists (Boissier, Willkomm), engineers (Hertting), doctors (Oloriz), anthropologists (Caro Baroja, Spanhi), etc. In all of them we find the admiration for this land, isolated during centuries, which has preserved the authenticity of its peoples and its works, testimonies of incredible rusticity and purity in a precipitous geography.

The Alpujarra covers from the south slope of Sierra Nevada to the Sea and from the region of the Valley of Lecrin to the confluence of the rivers Andarax and Nacimiento. From the highest peaks of the Iberian Peninsula to the Mediterranean we find landscapes with a great diversity and a very valuable scientific and human interest. The ethnographic patrimony this region holds comes from its isolation, but also from the influence of different cultures settled in its territory, being the Muslim period the one that influenced the most in the landscape (constructions, irrigation ditches, plots…), which so characterizes this region, since they remain in this region during eight centuries.

The contrasts found in this high mountain with different vegetation stripes from the snow to the sea, together with the integration of the landscape in its villages and its traditional elements, converts the Alpujarra into a paradise of diversity that seduces all its travelers.

The region of the River Nacimiento

We cross numerous crystalline streams that fall over the rough relief of the northern slope of Sierra Nevada, forming all of them the headwaters of the River Nacimiento, which gives its name to one of the richest regions in history and landscapes of Andalusia. From the snowcapped peaks of Almirez and the named Peñones del Mediodía, to the tortuous rills of its low river beds, the River Nacimiento is pure contrast between the range cuts and the plains of the foothills, between the pine and holm oak forests and the desolate sandy dry riverbeds. From de desert to the orchard, different landscapes live together, as well as in its culture, perfectly illustrated in the tiny Chapel of Father Jesus, in Fiñana, where we find architectonic and decorative elements associated from different cultures serving the same religious purpose: over a Roman plan, Visigoth horseshoe arches, Nazareth plasterwork drapes and in the mihrab an image of the Holy Father, a whole mixture of cultures.

Demarcated its river bed between the Mountain Range of Filabres and the Almeria’s Sierra Nevada, the course of the river Nacimiento goes on through the corridor of Fiñana, a natural corridor of the quaternary, strategic pass between Almeria and the region of Guadix. With remains of important settlements since the Metal Ages, it is during the Roman period when this region shone as an important communication junction (Fiñana, Abla, Las Tres Villas, etc.). Under Muslim domination, numerous fortresses are built all along its way, which shall subsequently change hands in the intermittent and bloody uprisings between Arab and Christian troops.

In its final course, the river Nacimiento surrounds the eastern extreme of Sierra Nevada, between a bare and subjugating mineral landscape, where water, orange and palm trees compose together with the white staggered hamlets an African picture as seductive as the names of its villages: Alboloduy, Alsodux, Alhabia…).