The highest level of the Granada’s Alpujarra is located in Trevélez, that it is also the highest town of Spain, since it is located 1,476 meters over sea level, measured at the in the Church’s square (Medium neighbourhood), with a difference in height between its three neighbourhoods - High, Medium and Low - of 200 meters.
The hotel industry and gastronomy offer of Trevélez can be considered in equal terms with the fame of the town, which trespass in its day the national borders thanks to its matchless jams, recognized with their own Trade Mark. Some of their dry warehouses can be visited to know the craftsman treatment process of the jams.
But in addition to these tourist attractions, the town centre of the town is of remarkable interest: a peculiar framework that conserves the typical Alpujarra’s architecture, of steep streets, small white houses with flat roof, chimneys with hat and tinaos.
Although the main wealth of this locality is the landscaping one. Huge natural places abound here, in slopes of Sierra Nevada, such as Seven Lagoons, the Tip of the King, the Fortress, You will be vacant, Pelao Hill and until the very same Mulhacén, the ceiling of the Iberian Peninsula. This one is an ideal corner to practice trekking and other sports related to the nature, among them the fishing, by the abundance of trouts in the Trevélez river.
In its calendar of celebrations the one of the Virgen de las Nieves, the 5th of August, stands out. This day, the neighbours of Trevélez carry out a romería to the Mulhacén. The ascent from the town is made during the night with the purpose of contemplating the dawn from the highest peak of Sierra Nevada.
The birth of this district is difficult to specify, although everything seems to indicate that its first inhabitants were based here before the arrival of the Muslims to the region. There is also different criteria as far as the origin of its name. According to the villagers, the town owes its name to three brothers named Vélez, who were its first settlers and they settled in different places of the valley. It seems more reasonable, nevertheless, that the name is of Iberian-Latin origin and makes reference to the valleys (velex) where the town is based: those of the Chico and Grande rivers.
The first written data go back to the IX century, Mozarab period, and during the Nasrid period it belonged to the Juviles Taha. After the Reconquista it supported the Moorish revolt and when the rebellion was repressed the Moorish were expelled from the district, which was later repopulated with Christians from other regions. Before suffering the consequences of the Muslim rise it had a main mosque and two rábitas, as well as good harvests of wheat and barley. In the later centuries, thanks to its weather, Trevélez developed an important chacinera industry that it has it summit in its matchless cured jams.
The jam is the main product of Trevélez, being the trouts with jam the genuine dish of the local cuisine. The migas de pastor, the papas a lo pobre with sausage and fried eggs, the pot of papas and matanza and the choto al ajillo occupy also a fundamental place in the gastronomy of Trevelez. The royal cake or the chestnuts stews are other specialties worth of praise.
© Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada I Diputación de Granada
