Huétor Vega is nailed between the valley of the Monachil river and the plain of the depression of Granada, in the "border between the snow and the fertile plain", as it is popularly known. The town of Huétor Vega houses in its streets and public areas the typical things from the serranos towns. In a journey through the town, the traveller will be able to contemplate the typical houses of white facades and ceiling with tiles.
The town is the beginning of the old Way of the Neveros, the roundtrip route that the carriers in charge of transporting the ice from the summits of Sierra Nevada for the daily consumption of the Granada’s capital during centuries. Logically today it is no longer used for such aim, but it has been restored as beautiful way to have a walk, on a horse or in bicycle and to evoke the romantic task of those men.
Although the name of the town sends them to the Nasrid period, the origins of Huétor Vega could go back several thousands of years according to the indications of important archaeological evidences found in the town and its surrounding area. An idol of 5 centimetres from the Eneolithic period stands out among them. Numerous human rests and utensils from an Argaric town have also been found in the Cerro de la Encina. A feminine statue that it could belong to the Iberian-Roman period has also appeared. Taking these sites into consideration, its first settlers are framed in the Copper Age, around the 2700 b.C.
The Romans built villas and agricultural exploitations in this town, whereas the Muslims raised farmhouses. At this time the town was called Hins-Watha. During the 700 years that the Arabs lived in this land, they created a network of canals that still remain today. It was a farmer town that worked territories of dry land with cultivations like olive trees, grapevines and white mulberries. After the surrender and the Moorish revolt the depopulation began, ordered by the mandate of Felipe II with the later repopulation through the direct sale of land to people from Castile, Aragon and Levante. It is in the XVI century when the first written documents about the town appear. In later centuries the population would dedicate to agriculture. In the last years, as the towns of its surrounding, Huétor Vega has experienced an important urban and demographic development, becoming residential area.
The queens of the Huétor Vega’s tables are the fresh beans, which fried with jam is one of the most typical dishes of the gastronomy of Granada. Its great winery tradition accompanies each plate elaborated in these places, popularly known as "wines of the neveros". In addition, in the Huétor Vega area flavourful sausages and salted fish can be tasted. Recipes as the migas and choto cooked of multiple forms are also traditional among its recipes.
© Patronato Provincial de Turismo de Granada I Diputación de Granada
