Bike tour 2022: Visit Órgiva

Tuesday, Nov 22: Walk to and visit Órgiva
Wind wind wind wind wind, he still doesn't give up! That's why I preferred the two kilometres to Órgiva to walk through the Ruta de Los Olivos. There is not a whole lot to see in this regional capital of the Western Alpujarras. The 16th-century 'Casa Palacio de los Condes de Sástago', a building with Arabic style elements in which the governor and Christians retreated during the Moorish rebellion. The 16th-century 'Iglesia Parroquial Nuestra Señora de la Expectación', which was erected on top of the earlier mosque. I drew two images of the Madonna there (I think): one with baby and another older girl on her lap, and a second with (the same?) girl next to her. Anyone who has that girl's story? I haven't come across her before. A little past the church is a handsome statue of the composer Manuel de Falla and the progressive poet García Lorca, commemorating their visit to Órgiva in January 1926. García Lorca, Spain's best-known, openly gay and left-wing poet, was murdered by the Franquists at the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. The Biblioteca Hurtado de Mendoza, inaugurated in 1994 by the royal couple Juan Carlos and Reina Sofia, is said to hold some 600 editions of Cervantes' Don Quixote. I did not see those, but the entrance hall did have a number of colourful paintings of the Spanish idealistic do-gooder. The library is located at the Plaza de Alpujarra, where I ended my photo walk to get something to eat at the vegetarian Alquímia Alpujarra restaurant. Highly recommended.