Oh my, my Alhama!

For over 700 years most of Spain was occupied by the Moors, but the Catholics continually chipped away at their territories, driving them back to one last stronghold in Granada. In 1482 the Moors were driven further south, back towards Africa. The story goes that when the Moorish king Boabdil looked back from the mountain pass, he saw the lovely town nearby and sighed 'Oh my Alhama...'

Today this cleft in the mountains is sometimes called El Ultimo Suspiro del Moro (Last Sigh of the Moor) and indeed when you finally reach this crest in the road it does seem all of Andalucia can be seen before you.

What you'll gasp at though is the dismal line of dreary bars, grungy car repair shops and haphazard houses here which are surrounded by smelly vegetable plots. The road is pitted from the heavy lorries carting gravel and cauliflower, as the twin industries of the area are a quarry and industrial-scale farming. The Moor these days would be sighing at the slow-going traffic!

Soon enough the road left the soggy plain, veered through some forested hills and emerged in a rolling landscape covered with olive groves.

Rising above the trees is the belltower of a church, with a small town clinging to the clifftops of a gorge. Welcome to Alhama!

A photo of the photographer, for a change

Al Hamma means 'hot springs' in Arabic and the town was a popular spot to take the healthy waters all the back in even Roman times. The town continues to have an air of prosperity and you can see numerous extravagant carved doorways, great brass knockers, tidy paving and geraniums aplenty.

A pleasant plaza shaded by palm trees plays host to a fountain and the red walls of a mock Moorish fortress.

Across the street is another fountain, a church and then a gobsmacking view over the gorge below.

On the valley floor I noticed a couple of large derelict buildings crying out to be converted into a hotel, bar or holiday flats (email me if you want to invest in my business plan). They were sat in drifts of crisp leaves falling from the birches.

Elsewhere in town were still more fountains and churches and lovely old buildings.

I spent maybe an hour looking around - it's not a big place - but I took more photos then than the entire week before, so it was a brilliant detour.