3 November 2013 Mondujar Castle

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Hi.
This week we had planned a very easy walk to Mondújar castle, so easy in fact we had to have a walk around Talara to try and get the kilometers up a bit.
There were 20 in the group when we set off from the cross roads in Talara. To start with we headed off towards Beznar and to the statue of Zoraya, Muly Hacen’s favorite,  who he took with him to live at Mondújar castle when he was expelled from Granada by Boabdil in 1483.
Turning off the main road we went under the autovia and headed for El Cerrillo, the little pueblo now isolated from Mondujar by the autovia. We said goodbye to Arturo here, he had decided to returned to Talara. He is still recovering after a recent trip back to the UK.
The climb up to the castle is a bit of a scramble, and after some huffing and puffing we all arrived safely. The castle is famous for its association with Boabdil, the last Nazrid King of Granada, who settled here in 1492. The remains of his mother, Aixa, are said to be buried here or down in Mondújar. Rumour has it that she was still alive when he buried her.
From the castle we continued uphill a short while before heading downhill, back  towards Mondújar. We then followed a small acequia, well what used to be an acequia. Finally, after hundreds of years, a system of irrigation invented by the Moors has been superseded by the ubiquitous plastic pipe. I wonder if, in a few hundred years time, people will follow these plastic pipes and marvel at the skilled engineers who constructed them, will they still be discussing the flat earth theory, that water in an acequia can flow uphill. Oh, the many hours we have spent discussing this topic.
We stopped for an early lunch next to the acequia before continuing back into Talara and refreshment at the Finity bar.
We walked 9 km and climbed 342 metres.
This week the photo was taken by Conchi at the castle.
In the afternoon we went round to Josettes for tapas.

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