Tuesday 5th March 2019
The village of Güejar Sierra is located approximately 1100 metres on the north western slope of the Parque Natural de Sierra Nevada, along the hillside of the Cerro del Calar with the beautiful Canales reservoir in the valley below.
It was only 2 kms from our campsite but the approach was all up hill, so we took the car 😉
We don’t mind cycling but the roads in this area are way too steep for ‘us amateurs’ and we only have high praise for the many that we saw in this area. The roads were of Vuelta España standard!
The town is a mountain town and sits on steep slopes with views of the snow capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada.
The ski resort of the Sierra Nevada and the town of Granada are both very close and within easy reach by car for a visit.
When we visited Güejar Sierra we found a very sleepy, deserted village, apart from a few school children on their way back home. We had read that an annual pork offal festival (XXIV Fiesta de la Asadura) was taking place at the weekend, so perhaps things would liven up then. Not really our cup of tea though.
After parking up in a designated area near our approach to the village and below an interesting water wheel feature, we wandered up and down through the narrow streets until we eventually found a restaurant for lunch. Although it was a little like trying to find a needle in a haystack!
Restaurant ‘La Hacilla ‘ offered some typical Andalusian local mountain dishes, such as migas, fried breadcrumbs with various additions, an acquired taste, fried potatoes, ‘cracked eggs’ and local hams, pigs trotters with almond sauce, lamb sweetbreads, lamb chops, stewed goat, blood sausage, oxtail and several fish dishes, as well as a menu del dia.
The surrounding area of the village has spectacular views and there are endless opportunities for hiking, cycling (if you like serious hill climbs or own a battery powered bicycle) or just walking.
We did venture back down from the campsite past the enormous reservoir to take a few photos, into the village Pinos Genil and up the other side of the reservoir on the A-395 to admire the scenery from several vantage points, although one of the ‘miradors’ in the tiny village of Canales was a little precarious and we wouldn’t necessarily recommend the drive.
From here you can continue on the A-395 up into the Sierra Nevada mountains and the ski resort but we had already made this trip on a couple of previous occasions and chose not to.