250px, Bridge over the Río Poqueira The Poqueira is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the ...

in La

Alpujarra The Alpujarra (, Arabic: ''al-bussarat'') is a natural and historical region in Andalusia, Spain, on the south slopes of the Sierra Nevada and the adjacent valley. The average elevation is above sea level. It extends over two provinces, G ...

region in the province of

Granada Granada (,, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains, at the c ...

, in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. It is formed by the confluence of streams that rise near the summit of Mulhacén, the highest peak of the

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

mountains. The river cuts through a dramatic gorge, then joins the Río Trevélez shortly before flowing into the Río Guadalfeo. Near the confluence there is a hydro-electric station, with the associated abandoned settlement of La Cebadilla, built to house the workers. At Pampaneira, near the bridge by which the main road from

Órgiva Órgiva is a Spanish town municipality in comarca of Alpujarra Granadina (which is located within the larger Alpujarras region) in the province of Granada, Andalusia. It has a population of around 6,000 and lies in the Alpujarra valley between the ...

and Lanjarón crosses the river, there is another hydro-electric installation, and just before the Poqueira river joins the Trevélez, at the narrowest point, there is a third - deep in the gorge and invisible from above. High on the eastern side lie the villages of Capileira, Bubión and

Pampaneira Pampaneira is a village located in the province of Granada, Spain. According to the 2005 census (INE), the village has a population of 355 inhabitants. It is one of three mountain villages of the Barranco de Poqueira in the Alpujarras region. Th ...

which have become noted touristic attractions: they are of Moorish origin, with narrow, winding streets, flat roofs, characteristic chimney-pots... On the hillsides the terraces created by the Moors can still be seen, though now they mostly lie uncultivated, and the channels also built by the Moors still bring water to the villages and terraces. The higher part of the valley lies within the

National Park, the lower part within a Natural Park; and the valley with its villages has been declared a "Conjunto Historico". The Poqueira valley was the scene of the first major battle in the second "Morisco" rebellion, in January 1569. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

of 1936-39, the villages remained under Nationalist control, though Republican guerrilla fighters controlled the heights of the Sierra Nevada, and the frontier during most of the war lay just above the villages.

Bibliography

*''Bubión - the story of an Alpujarran village'', by Michael Tracy (Hermitage Books, 2013, ). Follow-up comments of the author are found at https://web.archive.org/web/20130516195101/http://alpujarrabubion.net/ (retrieved 2014-08-18). *''Bubión en el centro del Poqueira'', by Juan Pérez Ramón (2011). *''Capileira de Poqueira'', by Miguel Estévez Callejon (1995). *''Pampaneira en la Alpujarra'', by Tomás Martín Cifuentes (2009).

Bibliography

See also