La Ruta de Lorca.... Donde los grillos cantan y el viento susurra entre los álamos...

The Spring of 2012 Carlos's Tia (Aunt) Encarnita invited me to join her and her family, Tio (Uncle) Makis and their son Dimitri, for a surprise. We drove for about 30 minutes away from Granada. We arrived to a house in a pueblo where we found a carriage drawn by two horses! The family who lives there run a rural tour business where they take people on carriage rides through the town and countryside where the famous poet Federico Garcia Lorca grew up and wrote many poems.

Canción

   Ya viene la noche.

Golpean rayos de luna
sobre el yunque de la tarde.

   Ya viene la noche.

Un árbol viejo se abriga
con palabras de cantares.

   Ya viene la noche.

Si tú vinieras a verme
por los senderos del aire,

   Ya viene la noche.

me encontrarías llorando
bajo los álamos grandes.
   ¡Ay morena!
Bajo los álamos grandes.


The weather that day was perfect. There was a slight breeze and the sun was hot. The poplar groves glittered in the sun when the wind would rustle through the leaves, showing their silvery undersides.
We crossed over a river. Perhaps it was the Rio Genil??

 Me and Dimitri.

Tio Makis and Tia Encarnita

We passed by fields of tiny corn plants just beginning to grow, asparagus, fruit trees, and some kind of tall wavy grass. We passed through olive groves which is a staple in the Spanish landscape. An olive tree, especially an old one, is one of the mot beautiful trees. It's trunk normally grows gnarly and wide. Instead of growing tall it grows in more twists and deeper groves in the bark. The leaves are narrow and silvery green.

 At one point we got off the carriage and walked down a path to a little creek. Next to the creek was a cleared space with a bench. It is said that Lorca wrote some poems while sitting in this peaceful spot.

Variación

El remanso del aire
bajo la rama del eco.

El remanso del agua
bajo fronda de luceros.

El remanso de tu boca
bajo espersura de besos.













We passed several old farm buildings including an old shed used to cure tobacco. Towards the end we passed by the house where Lorca was born and by a couple fountains - probably the same fountains that he wrote about in some of his poems!

 We stopped to check out an ancient Moorish tower. Perhaps it was used to store grain.