Today was filled with towering, snowcapped mountains, twisty and curvy narrow mountain roads, gorgeous vistas - and rain. Despite the rain we had a glorious time riding a big loop around the Sierra Nevada that boasts the highest peak in continental Europe outside of the Alps - Mulhacen at 11,414'.
look closely at the snow on the middle mountain
It's Palm Sunday and there was very little car traffic, but we encountered several groups of cyclists climbing up as we rode out of Grenada.
It was a lot of fun leaning into the curving roads, and as we climbed there were more pine trees.
We started to see homes built into the sides of the mountains. Known as trogloditas, they look like a typical house from the front entrance, but then are entirely within the mountain. We were lucky enough to stop for a visit to the Cueva Museo, or cave museum, that encompasses a family home (Paco, the father, introduced us to his wife and 2 kids) as well as two older cave homes.
Paco explained that there are about 1000 cave homes in the Purullena town area, and that a cave house is just like any other house except the only windows are in the front entrance and there are no doors between rooms to maximize air flow (they hang ceiling to floor curtains in doorways for privacy).
Families hand-dig their cave homes using shovels, smooth the inside clay walls and paint them white. According to Paco, the cave houses are watertight and maintain a consistent temperature of 17-19 degrees Centigrade; about 62-66 degrees Fahrenheit. People in this area have lived in cave houses for many generations. We climbed outside steps to cave houses on the second and third 'floors' and were rewarded with panoramic views of the town - and lots of cave houses.
We continued to gain elevation and not long after leaving the cave home museum the skies darkened and it started to rain, so we stopped to put on rain gear. We continued to climb over a high pass, but really couldn't see much due to the rain. Plus the temperature dropped to 40 degrees!
After a few miles on twisty mountain roads the rain stopped, and we enjoyed lunch in a cafe in a small mountain town. During lunch the skies turned black again and we heard thunder, but by the time we started riding the thunder had stopped although it continued to rain off and on.
With just a few miles left to ride, the rain stopped and skies cleared so that we had wonderful views as we descended into Lonjaron, a beautiful town on a ridge with terraced homes and gardens.
This was the most technical riding day of the trip and we didn't let the rain put a damper on our enthusiasm for the fun, twisty roads through the Sierra Nevada mountains. Tomorrow we ride west and south as we begin to head back toward Lisbon.
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