Plank Road: Iznajar

I will start with today’s history installment, we left off with the tragic downfall of the caliphate of Cordoba. The caliphs were very tolerant and progressive rulers, it was a period when the Muslims, Jews and Christians lived in relative harmony and when many learned people lived and studied in Cordoba.

The Taifa Kings

After the end of the caliphate, numerous regional states emerged which were ruled by amirs, the amirs were prominent civil servants, Berbers, military leaders or local nobles. Historians refer to the amirs as the taifa kings, from Arabic, ‘rulers of the parties or factions,’ they are also referred to as the ‘party kings.’ The situation was unstable as there were numerous challenges for authority, eventually the smaller states were absorbed by larger ones until prominent states formed, such as Sevilla and Granada.

Relative peace returned to al-Andalus, the agricultural economy recovered and trading routes were established, thus, the taifa kings became very wealthy. The taifa kings were patrons of the arts, poets and scholars, they also built mosques and carried out public works.

The taifa kings made arrangements with the northern Christian kings to provide military aid in exchange for an annual payment in gold, this was basically a protection racket and the annual tribute was a great source of revenue for the Christian kings. There was competition among the Christian kings for the tribute. Unfortunately for the taifa kings, paid protection led to intervention, which led to takeover, such as the conquest of Toledo by the Christian King Alfonso VI of Leon-Castile in 1085.

Another threat to the taifa kingdoms was developing in North Africa among the Berbers. The Berbers were a tough people living in the harsh landscape of southern Morocco, they had a strong social bond and were formidable warriors. They accepted the Islamic faith, were devout, armed, disciplined and the original small religious community expanded and united the formerly fragmented tribal society into a cohesive group with a shared purpose. Tribes who originally rebuffed the teachings of Islam submitted and a new power emerged, they are known as the Almoravid.

After the fall of Toledo, the taifa kings panicked and invited the Almoravid army to al-Andalus to battle Alfonso VI, the Almoravid army defeated the Christians, but the presence of the Almoravids in al-Andalus proved to be the undoing of the taifa kings.

The taifa kings and the Almoravids did not get along, the leader of the Almoravids removed the taifa kings and reunited al-Andalus under Almoravid control. The Almoravids raided Christian Leon-Castile but never managed to retake Toledo. Relations with the Christians were hostile as the fundamentalist Almoravids did not tolerate Christianity as the taifa kings and the caliphate had. Numerous Christians were exiled to Morocco and the annual tribute came to an end, causing a financial crisis among the Christian kingdoms.

Over time, the religious fervour of the Almoravids waned, tribal tensions resurfaced and the alienated non-Islamic population rebelled. Almoravid power collapsed and regional small states emerged once again.

In Morocco, the Almoravids were under threat by another power, the Almohads, whose leader had studied Islam in the east and set about to purify Islam and restore righteousness in the west. The Almohads seized power in Morocco, crossed the straits and founded Gibralter, then overtook al-Andalus by 1173.

Today’s Meanderings

The olive harvest is quite interesting and it looks like a lot of work. They lay black mesh nets on the ground and then sort of prune and harvest all at once. A lot of leaves, twigs and olives end up on the mesh. The whole lot of it is loaded into carts, the small carts are pulled by normal SUVs and the large carts are pulled by nice tractors with front wheel assist. The loads of olives are travelling on all the roads to sorting or oil pressing facilities, which seem to be numerous.

The carts have some type of hoist system and the load is tilted, in the case of small carts, they are raked off by hand onto a conveyor system.

We saw all of this while driving to Iznajar, which is a really interesting town that tumbles down the hillside to the Iznajar reservoir, which receives its water supply from the Sierra Nevadas near Granada.

When we got to Iznajar we went for a walk along the edge of the reservoir, part of it has a fairly nice sandy beach. Then we drove into Iznajar and parked the car as soon as possible. We are more comfortable on foot than negotiating the narrowest of streets in the car.

It was a steep climb to the top to an old Moorish Alcazaba (fortress) dating from the eighth century, the views from the hilltop are spectacular. We dropped into the tourist info centre and picked up a town map which was very helpful. We wandered all over the town up streets and steps to many miradors, or lookouts.

This area of Andalucia is off the beaten track as far as tourism goes, so we absolutely love it. It is rather difficult getting information as the staff in the tourist office don’t speak a lot of English and our Spanish is pathetic, but we get by. The staffer gave us a pamphlet on touring with a vespa (scooter) and one for donkey rides, very hilarious, but not our interest area.

After concluding our visit of Iznajar, we drove off to a supermarket which is recommended by the owners of the cottage. It is some distance away and we took a back road through the olive groves, very well paved, this is Spain, after all. We entered town from the wrong direction and ended up driving through the old section which is never a good idea, but there was a truck ahead of us so we followed it to ensure that the streets would be wide enough. We totally fluked into the location of the supermarket.

Since grocery shopping takes so much time we decided to load the cart - we bought enough food and wine for 10 days. The vegetables are excellent, there is a lot of variety and they are cheap. Well, everything is cheap, we buy a lot of Spanish meat like chorizo, both dried and fresh, it is a spicy sausage. There is very little beef and it looks quite horrible so we opt for pork. The real chickens are expensive, the commercial chicken is cheap but we bypass it. We have been drinking very good Spanish wine and eating wonderful olives. After loading the trunk of the car, which is miniature, we took the proper route home and it was much easier.

Cool looking character near shore of the Iznajar reservoir