"Broken the conversations of Santa Fe, Columbus said goodbye to those that favoured him there... Soon the Queen sent a bailiff of the Court, after Columbus, and from his Height it said to him how he was sent to make it return and bring him back; he found him two leagues from Granada, in the bridge that is said of Pines... Known by the Queen to be returned, she ordered... that with all quickness he makes capitulation, and all the offices of Columbus to be necessary for all its trip and discovery." This way the writers of the time narrated the negotiations between the Catholic Kings and the sailor to finance the trip towards America. They were on the verge of being frustrated.
In the Fertile plain of Granada and in the plain, very near to the capital, Pinos Puente is located. It extends at the bottom of the western slope of the Elvira Mountain range. The Cubillas River runs by the town. Its foundation is ancient as the archaeological rests found in the Cerro de las Agujetas and Cerro de los Infantes (Iberian-Roman settlement with Illurco) and the caliph city of Medina Elvira testify. It was called Pont-Binox, the Bridge of Pines, Pines of the Bridge and from the 23 of February of 1841 it is known as Pinos Puente.
The surrounding area of Pinos Puente offer interesting excursions, mainly for those pleased with the landscapes and rural architecture. They are ideal places for the stroll in bicycle, although the proximity of the Elvira Mountain range also offers the opportunity to practice para-gliding and hang-gliding.
The population of Valderrubio is within its district, in which during several years Federico Garcia Lorca lived when he was young and after his birth in the near Fuente Vaqueros. The family house of the poet and dramatist has been restored and opened to the public as museum. It was in this town where he did his literary learning, where he wrote some of his main works of youth and where he was inspired later to give to the theatre one of his better plays, the house of Bernarda Alba.
The Lorca route of Valderrubio is completed with the other three places where Federico spent his time in the summer: the stopping place of San Pascual, where the family took the train in their displacements to Granada; the Cortijo of Daimuz, in whose land, according to the own Lorca, it appeared a Roman mosaic allusive to the Roman shepherds Dafnis and Cloe; and, mainly, the Fuente de la Teja, that springs in the right shore of the Cubillas River, next to a backwater, in a place populated with poplars, where the poet used to go daily.
The origin of this Town, important area of irrigated fields, could be in a medieval farmhouse supplier of Granada. Several are the skirmishes related by different writers at Muslim time, as the incursion of D. Alvaro de Luna and the encounter between Muhammad I and Fernando III in 1242. Nevertheless, Pinos Puente reaches historical notoriety by its relationship with the Discovery of America. The Queen Isabel ordered to look for Columbus, already on his way towards France with no hopes to obtain the endorsement that he needed for its expedition, and the encounter took place in the Bridge of the Pines. By Real Decree of His Majesty the King Don Alfonso XIII the title of city was granted to it the 25 of April of 1928.
The rich gastronomy is nourished of products of its lands, with the cultivation of vegetables. The sausages, migas and gazpacho, are typical dishes of the town. The stews with beans and the noodles to the casserole are traditional as well. The cakes of chicharrones and choto al ajillo are also known.
© Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada I Diputación de Granada
