Polopos, Las Alpujarras

Thursday 23rd October and a deserved day off, so with friends we headed of towards to Alpujarras mountains to the west of Nerja. The road along here can be quite busy as it is the only way to Almeria, and on to Alicante. Very scenic in places and there are a few laybys that actually are parts of the old coast road where you can stop to enjoy the views of the coast.
Anyway, on through Almunecar , Salobrena and on past Motril until you see the turn off for Castillo de Ferro and at the roundabout you will see the signs for Polopos (10km)

This road winds and climbs nearly 2000 feet, and again has wonderful views down to the sea and the higher you climb the vast greenhouses disappear.
Polopos is very much an old village and does not even have a shop!

We had a walk around the village, which doesn't take too long but there are things to see, very old doors, cobbled streets, small bar/museum that was closed, and at the end of town a run down building with lots of 'butlers sinks' that may have been a communal washing room or maybe for donkeys who knows, anyway right next to it is a pond with lots of frogs. Lots of property seems to be abandoned, but also quite a few were being renovated.
We saw burros being ridden through the village, house doors were open and old men taking the husks off almonds, even an old wine press seemingly abandoned in the street. Very photogenic.

We called in the only bar in the village for a beer and tapas and had a chat with the landlady who told us that times were hard, as the price almonds (of one of the villages main sources of income) was so low that it was not worth picking them!
The other crops they relied on were grapes and figs.
Most of the youngsters of the village had left to earn their living in the towns, there used to be a shop, but the owners retired and no-one took it over so it closed. A bread van came in the morning and again in the afternoon, but for any other shopping it meant a trip down to the coast. If you did not have a car it could be a real problem. Most of the residents left in the village worked land in the campo and grew all the fruit and vegetables they needed themselves.
Despite the bleak story she was a happy soul and the bar had a few customers popping in and out, but none paid for anything! We tried a glass of the local wine which tasted like a white port, so we bought a couple of bottles (one in a fanta bottle and the other in a brandy bottle) Definitely not geared up for tourism thank goodness.

We followed the road up into the Alpujarras and had a look at Rubite, a very similar sort of village in a valley, the most impressive part being the hairpin road down to it. We stooped for a look around but couldn't find a bar so drove on down to the coast.
Not ideal if you are looking for a ride out and a meal but the scenery made up for that and the hospitality of the landlady in Polopos. Certainly worth a look if even just for the photographs.

On the way back to Nerja we called in at Torrenueva for coffee by the beach which was almost deserted.

Time to get to Polopos? about 2 hours enjoying the scenery.