El Acebuchal

Yesterday Asun and I went up to the Acebuchal, a fascinating place in the mountains behind Frigiliana. We were joined by Fernando, Antonio, María del Mar, Chris and Rosalynd. After the Spanish Civil War there were some small groups of guerilla fighters who tried to keep the cause going. They hid out in rural mountainous areas around Spain. The tiny, isolated village of El Acebuchal, really just a tight cluster of eight or ten very modest homes, was shuttered by the Civil Guard shortly after the war. They feared that the village was too sympathetic to the Maquis, as the rebel holdouts were known, and that it was too isolated for them to control. And so for decades the Acebuchal was a ghost town that fell into complete decay. Then in 1998 the children and grandchildren of one of the families that had to abandon the place began to rebuild. And it kept going. Apparently they have been quite faithful to the way things were before the war in their restoration efforts. I believe five or six families live their full time now. The result is quite charming. There is one little restaurant and that, of course, was our destination. Lunch was superb: salad, lamb in mint sauce, goat in almond sauce, and wild boar. Coconut cake for dessert.