The El Valle district is formed by the towns of Melegís, Restábal and Saleres, the capital being in the second one, which, aside from being the most populated, occupies an intermediate position between the other two.
Located at the bottom of the hill of the Canjorros, Restábal offers its better view from the bridge of the Torrente river. The white stamp of the of Restábal’s town centre from this point is only comparable in beauty to the one that can be enjoyed from the terraces of the towns of Melegís and Saleres and the authentic forest formed by the cultivations of orange and lemon trees that extend in the central part of the Lecrín valley. Although there are many landscaping places worth of mention in the surroundings of this town, three of them are especially advisable. The first one is the Alos Ravine, with its cavernous areas excavated in the limestone walls by the water and the millenarian carob tree that is conserved in its surroundings. The second place is the shores of the Béznar reservoir in the area of Cortijo de Budas. You can access to this place by a path of orange and olive trees. The third one it is the Hill of the Calvario, from where an impressive panoramic view of the town and of the valley can be contemplated.
In Melegís there are many stately houses of the XVIII century. The most interesting here are the thermal water birth of El Baño, of which from long ago its healthy properties for certain affections of the skin have been praised.
In Saleres, the highest of the three cores of the district, the Pago de los Llanos, where the historical Fountain of the Seven Years is located, stands out. A spring called this way because it corresponded to cycles of that regularity its waters running in abundance during seven years, to diminish other seven.
The first written information of this place corresponds to the Islamic period. Even so, there probably was a human settlement previously, due to the fertility of the land and the abundance of water.
Melegís was, in the XV century, residence of the Court of Granada during a brief period of time, after suffering this area the civil wars between Alhamar and the Abencerrajes, in the last years of the XIV century.
In spite of the conflicts, the Muslims made a prosperous place of this town. They developed the irrigated cultivations, part of the canals are still being used today, and achieved a buoyant agriculture that it had the cultivation of white mulberries for the crafts of the silk as its main product. But this flourishing stage was broken after the entrance of the Catholic Kings and the consequent expulsion of the Moorish.
In the XIX century the deficient structure was translated in a massive exodus that reduced the number of inhabitants drastically.
The citruses and the olive trees are the first thing that stands out. Even so, we should not forget the wide range of traditional dishes that can be tasted in El Valle. Fennel stew, meatballs of cod, snails in sauce, trotters, pumpkin pisto or salad of coloraos peppers are some of the gastronomy varieties offered here. Among the desserts the fried milk, the almond biscuits, the French toasts or the orange cream have fame.
© Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada I Diputación de Granada
