There really is a Hut of Baba Yaga 31/1/24

It’s been a very full on day today and we’ve got the throbbing toes to prove it.
First a ten minute drive to the little village of Soportújar which seems to have made witchcraft its trademark. Apparently, when the Moors were kicked out, the village was repopulated with people from Galicia. The locals mistrusted them and believed they were into paganism…so, centuries later, it’s like a mini Halloween themed Disney village. Attractions include giant spider, serpent breaking through a wall, various witches, a well with cauldron over it, dragon fountain with magical fertility properties, Hansel and Gretel house and last, but not least, our favourite, the hut of Baba Yaga.

Weirdly enough, we actually know this movement from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, but didn’t know the story about the Russian Witch (Baba Yaga) who lived in a hut in the dark woods. The hut was on chicken feet and could rotate so she could see children coming. She would then grind them up in a pestle and mortar and eat them. Nice little fairytale 🤣
Not enough excitement for one day, so after lunch we took it upon ourselves to walk 4.5 miles vertically up into the mountains via a never ending zigzag road. The Buddhist retreat of O Sel Ling only accepts visitors between 3:30 and 6pm at this time of year so we had to time it right. When we finally made it to the temple and the huge prayer wheel, we were almost on our knees.

We were greeted at the reception by a young girl who was doing a bit of gardening. She explained which paths to take and reminded us to be silent and not to light candles etc. When we said we’d walked up from the main road down in the valley, she immediately took pity on us and filled our water bottle.
The trouble with all the paths around the sacred monuments was that they were all uphill, sometimes even a scramble. Never saw another person…we’d hoped for a bit of chanting at least, but we did see the Stupas and the Medicine Buddha.

Coming down was faster than going up but our feet are now in bits. We had planned to return to Granada tomorrow but I think we may have to scrap the idea!