One of my main reasons for coming to the  Alpujarras was the description of the aqueduct system that is still in place and working throughout the white villages.

As you can see from the picture they commence way up in the mountains.  We did follow this one for SOME time but never got to the origin!  As usual we were on the hunt for a plant.  We had heard from an English walking guide that there were Gentians high in the mountains above Capileria.  I had already been riding incredibly high above this little white village in the morning and hadn’t seen any so we thought we would take our little car and see how high we could go.It was here in The Alpujarras that the Moors sought refuge when they refused to convert to Christianity and created these aqueducts in the area to aid irrigation of the land at the lower levels. The Moors developed this system 900 years ago and created an intricate system of water irrigation by following the contours of the land – they go for miles and miles and miles.  The irrigation channels are called acequias, many of them are still in original state and deliver water to the villages and onto the fields in the surrounding valleys.

The acequias were used for irrigation of the land on the steep slopes of Las Alpujarras. The land is well terraced to allow for the mountain people to grow a variety of crops and fruit trees and water appears like magic from very nearly every nook and cranny.  Villagers divert enough for their needs and the remainder continues on.  What isn’t used finally reaches the river system below.  These acequias, unlike many of the river systems never run dry but deliver exceptionally clean water year round.

It’s been a thrill to see them in use and to enjoy their cool water on some of our harder walks.