To go on the virtual tour of Vega you can either click on the map or follow the route that we have outlined below. Lorca was born in Fuente Vaqueros and his early days were spent in the agricultural area to the north west of Granada know as the Vega.

First here is some information about the "Vega de Granada".

The Vega is a wide fertile river valley. The river is the Genil which descends, says Lorca, "from the snow to the wheat" (Baladilla de los tres ríos). Over the centuries, the heavy seasonal rains and the melting snows spread a fine layer of silt on the floor of the valley which, in their day, the Arab horticulturalists knew how to exploit to turn the Vega into their version of a Paradise on Earth. Much of the present irrigation system is based on the system they used for more than 700 years up until 1492. Between 1483 and 1492 the Catholic Monarchs laid waste to the Vega in an attempt to starve the city population during the Seige of Granada which ended with the fall of the City on 2nd January 1942. Since then, it seems, the Vega has never been the same. One of the first recorded references to the decay of the Vega we have from the Venecian diplomat Andrea Navigiero, writing in 1526. He described the abandoning of farms and crops by their Moorish owners and the incapacity of their Christian successors to maintain the traditional horticultural techniques. This process became irreversible in 1610 with the definitive expulsion of the moriscos and their know-how. The Moriscos were Arabs nominally converted to Christianity.

Our tour starts in Granada. We follow the River Genil out past Santa Fe to the village of Chauchina. We go to Romilla and then to Fuente Vaqueros, the village where Lorca was born. From Fuente Vaqueros we continue to Valderrubio, stopping at the banks of the River Cubillas to visit Fuente La Teja. After Valderrubio, we visit the farmhouse at Daimuz. Then we return to Valderrubio and pass through the village of Zujaira. Before returning to Granada via Pinos Puente, we'll go out to Moclín, where the "romería de los cabrones", inspiration for the final act of Yerma, takes place.

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