Andalusia Travel Guides | Cortijo Bujio

A narrative, tour-level deep dive into the Alhambra: history, tragedies and legends. (In German)

Everything you need to know about Granada and the Alhambra — history, what to see, surprising facts and how to book tickets, 45 minutes from Cortijo Bujio.

Moorish Andalusia

Nearly 800 years in one read: the rise and fall of Al-Andalus, from the 711 conquest to Granada 1492 — the history behind Andalusia's palaces and white villages.

El Cid & history

The sweep of Andalusian history through its greatest frontier warrior, El Cid — from Rome and Al-Andalus to the Battle of Cabra, Valencia and the fall of Granada.

Frontier & languages

The ring of frontier castles that guarded Granada, the Syrians of Damascus who settled the region, and the many languages of Al-Andalus — a deep history from Montefrío.

1492

1492 - the fall of Granada, Columbus's voyage and the expulsion of the Jews all converged on the plain below Cortijo Bujio. The year the medieval world ended.

Jewish Granada

Granada of the Jews - Samuel HaNagid the poet-vizier, the golden age and the 1066 tragedy, Maimonides and the Sephardic diaspora of 1492.

Scholars of Al-Andalus

The great scientists of Andalusia - Averroes, al-Zahrawi, Ibn Khaldun and more - and how their work reached the world through Al-Andalus.

Convivencia: myth & reality

Was Al-Andalus a paradise of tolerance or a clash of civilisations? Neither. The honest, evidence-based story of Muslims, Christians and Jews in medieval Spain.

The Reconquista

The Reconquista was less a 770-year holy war than a later myth laid over a messy, pragmatic frontier of shifting alliances - the reality on the border by Montefrio.

Medina Elvira

The vanished Islamic city of Madinat Ilbira, buried under olive groves near Atarfe - the mother-city from which Granada was born around 1013.

Cordoba's golden age

A fugitive prince from Damascus who founded Al-Andalus - and the dazzling Caliphate of Cordoba, the most advanced city in 10th-century Europe.

Almoravids & Almohads

The two Berber empires that reunited Al-Andalus by force, the persecution that drove out Maimonides, and Las Navas de Tolosa 1212 - the turning point toward 1492.

Boabdil, the last sultan

The tragic last king of Al-Andalus - a kingdom at civil war, his capture at Lucena, the surrender of 1492 and the Moor's last sigh, an hour from the villa.

Food & drink

Free tapas, liquid-gold olive oil, cured Montefrío pork and dishes worth travelling for — a guide to eating and drinking around Cortijo Bujio and Granada.

Olive oil

History, varieties, production, tasting, prices and where to visit mills — a complete guide to the olive oil of Montefrío and the DOP Poniente de Granada.

Fine dining

Where to eat well near Montefrío: Casa Piolas, the organic caviar of Riofrío and Granada's Michelin-starred kitchens — with distances and booking tips.

Montefrío cheese

Montefrío's award-winning goat cheese — a World Cheese Awards gold winner made from Murciano-Granadina goats: the varieties, the story and where to buy it.

Granada wine

Granada makes some of Europe's highest-altitude wines — the DO Granada, native Vijiriega grapes and the natural-wine bodegas of the Alpujarra, from Montefrío.

Free tapas of Granada

Granada is one of the last cities in Spain where a drink still comes with a free tapa - what to expect, how it works and the best places to graze.

Jamon & Iberico ham

Iberico, bellota and the mountain ham of Trevelez - how to understand, serve and buy the greatest cured meat, near Cortijo Bujio.

Sweet Andalusia

Honey, almonds and orange blossom - the Moorish sweets of Andalusia, the convent pastries, the piononos of Santa Fe and the fruit that named Granada.

Montefrío

The definitive guide to Montefrío - the world-best view, the Nasrid castle, the round church, the dog who changed church law, dolmens older than the pyramids and a world-champion cheese.

Day trips

From the Alhambra to Córdoba's Mezquita, Sierra Nevada skiing and tropical beaches — the best day trips from Cortijo Bujio near Montefrío, with drive times.

Sierra Nevada & Alpujarras

Mainland Spain's highest peaks, Europe's southernmost ski resort, and the white villages of the Alpujarras with their thousand-year-old Moorish water channels.

Costa Tropical

Granada's own coastline - Almunecar, Salobrena and a subtropical microclimate where mango and avocado grow. Beaches, Moorish castles and ski-and-swim days.

Pena de los Gitanos

A prehistoric site 5 km from Montefrio with nearly a hundred megalithic dolmens - some older than the pyramids - inhabited for 7,000 years.

Illora

The frontier castle-village of Illora - the best-preserved Nasrid fortress after the Alhambra, the church by Diego de Siloe, and the house of the Great Captain.

Moclin

Moclin's mountaintop Nasrid castle, the miraculous Cristo del Pano and its 5 October pilgrimage - the fertility rite that inspired Lorca's Yerma.

Loja

The Moorish key to Granada - its Alcazaba, the roaring waterfalls of Los Infiernos, the palace of General Narvaez and the caviar of Riofrio nearby.

Flamenco & Sacromonte

Flamenco and the zambra of Granada's Sacromonte caves — what it is, where it came from and how to experience a real cave performance, 45 minutes from the villa.

Lorca's Granada

Following Andalusia's greatest poet through Granada: his birthplace, summer home, work and tragic death — the essential Lorca pilgrimage near the villa.

Festivals & fiestas

The great festivals of the region - Semana Santa, the flower crosses of Dia de la Cruz, the dragon-led Corpus fair, and Montefrio's own fiestas.

Granada crafts

Granada's living Nasrid crafts - blue-and-green Fajalauza pottery and taracea marquetry - where they come from and where to buy the real thing.

Washington Irving

How an American writer who lived in the ruined Alhambra in 1829 wrote the book that made it world-famous - and helped save it.

The Andalusian garden

The Moorish art of the garden - paradise, water and the Generalife - and the hidden carmenes of the Albaicin, near Cortijo Bujio.

The hammam

El Banuelo, the oldest Arab bath in Granada, the culture of the Moorish hammam and where to bathe like a sultan today.

The Spanish guitar

How Andalusia shaped both flamenco guitar and, through Andres Segovia, the modern classical guitar - the sound of the Spanish south.