Molino Aljariz

This is the mill at Aljariz. What is left of it. And that is not quite little! This type of mill has a water storage basin. The water is channeled by aqueduct to a hole where the water drops down a tube and propels a horizontal wheel. The mill building itself is a ruin, I'll climb down there a next time when I wear more sensible shoes. The aceduct is still there, and so is the water storage. That is built on top of a number of terraces, all built with magnificent stone walls. Wow!

Gresitus 4 - final?

Well, will this be it? A Vidrepur mix nrs 507 (clouded green), 504 (clouded yellow) en 509 (clouded black), 70-15-15%, black grout, and a black pool edge. We'll get 1 m² of luminescent tiles, to accent the steps, and randomly scatter in the pool. But, what colour luminescents? There are 3 colours.. (see below).
UPDATE: There is a luminescent gresite in the mix generator: 412FG! The other two are not. Today ask the cost.

Gresitus 3 - mezclar!

Want to play with mixing the gresites yourself? Look here:

www.vidrepur.com mezclas mixer

A lot of un, if this is what you like.

Gresitus 2

Wednesday the decision must be made. The plan is that the pool has an overflow from "high terrace" to "low terrace" on the lefthand side. And none of those ugly "skimmers"

504 yellow

507 green grey grout

507 green white grout

507 504 516

507 504 503

507 509

2000123 (230)

Or:

(final)

Gresitus

gresitus
noun | gre-si-tus | \grəh-'səe-tüs\

an acute, highly contagious condition concerning anxiety regarding the colours of your pool

We were just about to settle for a sandy-yellow gresite (ref 504), when a dark green pool surfaced, and that is very very beautiful, too. Perhaps even more beautiful. Or not? It should match our yellow-orangy tile we selected for the terrace and around the pool.

A grey grout is interesting too. Or white after all? Black is possible too. And blue, yellow and red.

As you can see, we're experiencing a bad bout of gresitus.

(And I haven't even mentioned we need to choose a colour for the narrow rim of the pool.)

The "deia" tile for the terrace and around the pool.

Gresites

Who wants a swimming pool has to make choices. Size, shape, cost, yes or no infinity, and, worst of all: the color and the tiles. There are lots of problems in the world, but the choice of a swimming pool tile is a heavy one. There is an infinite choice, even for non-infinity pools. The catalogue above is only a very small and limited one. 

 More? (You are warned!)

• vidrepur.com
  
• www.togama.com
  
• www.onixmosaico.com
  

So there are enormous factories where people are making gillions of small tiles, and sheets with combinations, and... Arrrgh! A whole new and unknown world!

There is one guideline we have to adhere: we cannot have a blue pool. That is a pity, else we'd have made up our mind quite quickly. In this region the land is "rustico" and not "urbano", so there are very tight building restrictions. You cannot build, and not a swimming pool either. What you can do is construct a "balsa": a reservoir for irrigation water. You can even have a filter installation, and even put chlorine in the water, but you cannot have blue tiles. You need to use earth colours, like ochre, browns, blacks, yellows, and possibly greens (algae!). (Although the are blue algae, we better not try that.)

/Those small 2.5x2.5cm glass tiles, or "gresites" in Spanish, for pools are delivered as sheets of 12x15 tiles. You can choose one colour for all, or have a variation within one sheet of light and dark, called "niebla": mist/cloud. Then there's the choice of smooth versus anti-slip ("antideslizante"), but under water smooth is fine.

If you're not satisfied with a niebla mix, you can make your own!

Actually, we had almost made up our mind with the yellow niebla above, when a photo of a green pool turned up.

That green pool is made with this mix. Isn't it nice? And quite affordable, too.

  "Affordable" is relative. Like these, they are about €50 per m²

And how about luminous? Fun for accents, and as the edge of underwater steps, and as random scattered pixels. (€120 per m², but you don't need much.)

It really works! This is after a few hours outside till the evening, and then inside in the dark. They have been emitting light all night, next to my bed.


If we opt for a more single colour pool I will add mosaics. Of space invaders along the water line.

Brown pool? Not too bad.
















 

How about a red pool?

Fantasías de Tomate raf

Juan Moreno in Vera - Jornadas del tomate raf. Raf Tomatoes are beautiful red and green tomatoes, the pride of the region. They are very very good.