Where orange trees grow

Green treasure in the Valley of Joy,

Sheltered with jealously between mountains,

You were born rich and, to your human wealth,

You add new joys every day.

Who blessed your fields with olive trees?

Who fertilized the souls of your lands

And enriched, with new hope,

Of not seeing your people captive?

Fourth River of Eden, Guadalfeo River

That you enrich El Hoyo with orange trees,

That unites us all, as brothers,

That you adorn our land, cameo

On the chest of a twenty-year-old virgin

That hopes, like El Valle, to give its essence.

These beautiful verses tell us about the Lecrín Valley, a region that borders the Vega, the Alpujarra and the coast. In the times of al-Andalus, this area was a dependent district of Granada; It was used for agricultural exploitation, mainly for olive trees and fruit trees (lemons, orange trees...); Not only that, from the valley there was access to the sugar cane plantations, an industry that has remained in the city until the 19th century. After the Conquest of Granada, and due to the expulsion of the Moors, the valley was practically deserted until its repopulation in the 18th century. At that time, little by little and until today, local agriculture was resumed.

Por cierto, ya que mencionamos las naranjas… ¡cuidado! Porque son naranjas amargas. Con estas naranjas se elabora una exquisita mermelada, que hasta se exporta a Inglaterra. En época andalusí, las naranjas se utilizaban para cosméticos, como árbol decorativo en los jardines interiores de las casas… ¡y también para la medicina! Y es que, al parecer, la naranja amarga tiene propiedades antiespasmódicas.

If you want to discover the region of Granada, you cannot miss this hidden gem between mountains. The landscape of olive groves, lemon and orange trees seems straight out of a painting. Not only that, you can taste the jam that we have mentioned before, which is made with the oranges themselves, typical desserts from the area... and, to wash down the food, a walk through the towns of the valley or through the Laguna del Padul is always a good option.