FUENTE DEL AVELLANO

Yesterday I woke up feeling ambitious and decided to go for a run. I ran down through Realejo along the river and Paseo de los Tristes and was about to head up into the Albaycin when a little old man called out to me“Pardon me, but I have to show you something”. Against my first instinct I went over to him (I almost expected him to pull his pants down, you just never know with little old men) but instead he whispered to me “Have you seen the Fuente del Avellano? I’m heading there now”. With this he caught my curiosity and since it was broad daylight and there were people in screaming distance, I decided to join him down a path that led up into a wooded area, towards the direction of the Bombero cave and the hill with the Alhambra. As we walked (very very slowly) he told me all sorts of things in his crackly murmured Spanish, some of which I understood and some that just sounded like wheezy gibberish to my straining ears.

He told me that this fountain was very old and everyone seemed to have a different story about it. It was made even more famous with a song by Antonio Molina in the year 1957 called El Agua del Avellano. He also told me that Fuente del Avellano to was one of three down the path, the other two are called Orilla and Salud (which means “health” in Spanish, the water from this fountain is believed to be restorative), although I only saw the Avellano.

This little old man, Jose, works at the cemetery up near the Generalife Gardins and goes way out of his way almost daily to rinse his face in the agua del Avellano, and told me that many Granadinos and visiting Spaniards do the same. (All of this is what I think he told me— there is a chance that he was talking about the roosters invading Portugal or how to make honey).

As we walked down the path that was along the hill on the right and overlooking the river on the left there were large white stones engraved with poems by famous Spanish poets (I spotted a few Lorcas that I was familiar with!). It is a beautiful path surrounded by green and flowers. When we arrived to the end it was absolutely gorgeous! We were almost directly under the Generalife Gardins. We both enjoyed the cold water on our faces and sat down to take in the view. There is an old inscription above the fountain that says 1827 but he told me that the fountain itself is much, much older than that. I asked him about a giant building off in the distance that I have been wondering about and he told me it is a monastery, still functional although it appears that parts are in ruins. (Maybe an adventure for an upcoming day?) After a few minutes of resting, we headed back off down the trail towards the city, him off to have lunch with his wife and me to return home after a very successful run.

El agua del Avellano

by Antonio Molino

Que fresquita baja hoy
el agua del Avellano
el agua del Avellano
que en grana vendiendo voy

Al pie del Generalife
en las márgenes del Darro
hay una fuente famosa
la fuente del Avellano

Todas las mañanas subo
caminito de la fuente
y así lanzo mis pregones
cuando paso por el puente

Que baja como la nieve
el agua del Avellano
que baja como la nieve
cristalina y con anises
fresquita no hay quien la pruebe
el agua del Avellano

Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs80V7fnJRE

SABES QUE…
The Granadinos don’t pronounce Granada that way; they simply say “Graná”.