The Alpujarras is a dramatically beautiful mountain region stretching through the provinces of Granada and Almería and bounded in the north by the Sierra Nevada and in the south by the Contraviesa.  The mountains are dotted with picturesque whitewashed villages and the area itself was the last stronghold of the Moors who held out against the Christians for over a century in their impenetrable mountain home after the fall of Granada in 1492.  The legacy of the Moors can still be seen everywhere today, from the intricate terracing and irrigation systems to the attractive flat-roofed houses and narrow, winding streets in all the villages.