Limiting with the left slope of the Grande River Alpujarra de la Sierra is located. Mecina Bombarón and Yegen are the towns that form this district.
Yegen has universal fame after being immortalized by the English Gerald Brenan in the pages of his book “To the south of Granada”. The Hispanic writer explains this way his attraction by the place where at the beginning of the twenties of the XX century he decided to establish his residence: "The place had something that was attractive to me. It was a poor village, elevated over the sea, with an immense view in front of it. Their grey houses in cubical form, with a notched similar to the Le Corbusier style, in fast descent by the slope of the hill and stuck one to the other, with their greda flat roofs and their small smoky chimneys, they suggested something built by insects ". To visit this town offers the opportunity to know the typical architecture of the Alpujarra. With steep streets, the tinaos and roofs of their houses serve as exits for others, forming a stepped structure. Its location makes of Alpujarra de la Sierra the ideal place to make contact with nature, or to practice trekking or following the routes on horse or in bicycle. It also has on a wide range of rural houses. It is still open to the public the pension where Don Geraldo stayed, as it is known Brenan in Yegen, before renting the house that would be his home during fourteen years and that today is one of the attractions of the town.
On the other hand, Mecina Bombarón is the main town of Alpujarra de la Sierra. The Mecina Bombarón river and the Las Chorreras cascade are the most interesting places of this town. The river is an affluent of the Adra river, where a Roman bridge rises. The Chorreras cascade is in the Mecina Mountain range and to access to it a forest highway has to be crossed.
The origin of this district is not known with exactitude, although there are rests of a Roman bridge in the urban core of Mecina Bombarón. It experienced an important development during the Arab domination and two population centres were created: Mecina Bombarón, formed by eight districts with mosque and own deposit of grain, and the core of Yegen, with two other districts. Mecina Bombarón was the native country of Diego Lopez Abén Aboo, cousin and successor of Abén Humeya.
Alpujarra de la Sierra; became part of the Castile Crown in 1492, when the Catholic Kings took Granada. Later, the population was put under great pressure by the Christians during years, being forced to live without their customs and religious beliefs. In 1568, a rich landowner of the area, Abén Humeya, fought against Felipe II, heading the rebellion of the Moorish in the Alpujarra. His cousin-brother Aben Aboo leaded after him the front of the revolt, after his betrayal to become leader of the rebels. The rebellion was suffocated in 1569 and the Moorish finally expelled in 1609. Later the area was repopulated with settlers coming from other places of the Kingdom.
In this district it is possible to taste the exquisite migas known as Migas de Alarcón, in honour to the writer Pedro Antonio de Alarcón, who was delighted with the migas of this district. This dish consists on migas of bread mixed with garlic, virgin olive oil and chorizo. Other typical dishes are the pot of fennel, gachas of “ burnt garlic” and gachas of coloured stock, guisaillo matancero, the chestnuts stew, the buñuelos and great variety of sweets of Moorish origin
© Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada I Diputación de Granada
