Soportújar

Of all the villages of Western Alpujarra, Soportújar was the last I got to know and that was only because, Isabel, the daughter of my neighbours Bernd and Gertrude, decided to get married there at the parish church of Santa María La Mayor. I had no idea what to expect..perhaps I hadn't even asked myself the question. What I can say with certainty is that Soprtújar was a most wonderful surprise.

As we drove up to the village, the views that I saw unfolding were some of the most spectacular I had set eyes upon in La Alpujarra. I wondered why I hadn't discovered this village before, so close to home I could almost walk to it.

Many of the villagers had lined up the main street and square, others looked down from windows and balconies. Everyone's face beamed at the sight of the beautiful bride, her groom and their friends with their German antics. After the wedding party entered the church, many followed, who were not invited. An event in the village was an event for all!

My next visit was as an estate agent to view a property there. Once again, Soportújar took my breath away. The owner, Ricardo, was a friendly man. He asked me if I sopke German. When I said I didn't, he explained that he had migrated to Germany in the 50s and worked in a factory till he retired and came back home.

In Andalucia at that time, poverty had been the order of the day. Children as young as seven had to go to work, the boys in the fields from sunrise to sunset and the girls as criadas, or maids. When I told him I spoke French, he said that his cousin had migrated about the same time as himself to seek work first in Barcelona and then in France. He, on the other hand, did speak French because his son and his family still lived there and he needed to communicate with his grandchildren when they came on vacation every August for the Fiesta of San Roque.

Soportújar is situated at an altitude of 940m and has an ageing population of not quite 300, of whom only about 14% are aged fifteen years and under. In the 50s and for three decades it lost 2/3 of its population.
Its name, it is beleived, derives from Latin. Soportújar has the largest number of "tenados" (Tenaos in andalúz) than any other village in La Alpjujarra. These are aslo called suportales, from which the name. They form little passages that allow the narrow streets to pass below the houses, authentic architecture of La Alpujarra, a throwback to its Islamic past. Other reminders of those propsperous times of long ago, when the region was a centre of silk production, are the lavaderos de minerales (place for washing the minerals mined in the area), the "acequia" irrigation system, the old threshing grounds and five flour mills spread around the municipality. The church was built in Mudéjar style in 1677 over a 13c mosque.

Although within the municipality of Pampaneira, it is much nearer Soportújar that the area known as Cerro de Atalaya lies. This is where Lama Yeshé founded O Sel Ling, the first Buddhist centre in Spain.

Once, Ole had taken his daughter and a friend of hers to visit the shrine and while he waited for the two to tour the place, he saw this man in yellow and purple robes who seemed lost in thought. He approached him and struck a conversation with him. Consequently, he learnt that the soft spoken and gentle man was none but the Dalai Lama himslef, who had come to consecrate The Monastry.

Surprisingly, despite its easy access and situation in relation to the National and Natural parks of Sierra Nevada, It is the place with the least number of foreign residents.

Inge Olsen tells me that Soportújar got elelctricity in the early part of the twentieth century and that one of its three bars installed the first public phone around. It was where everyone went if they wanted to talk to their relatives abroad.








Photo 1, Soportújar Landscape
Photo 2, At the door of the church, the groom joins his friends' German antics, taken by myself.
Photo 3, One of the old Mills & threshing grounds of Soportújar by Richard Simon (present owner)
Photo 4, The Church Square in the early 80s, Courtesy Inge Olsen
Photo 5, Passing through a tinao, a bride at the arm of her father. Courtesy June Slatter
Photo 6, The Shrine at O Sel Ling
Photo 7, The bar at Soportújar with the public phone Courtesy Inge Olsen