Blog of the Morning Calm: Caves

Showing posts with label Caves. Show all posts

Dave Quixote de la Mancha (Road Trip Part 2)

Last time we told you about our time in Toledo. It was a great start to the trip around central Spain with our lovely guests, Katie's brother James and his girlfriend Emily. This time we’re sharing the highlights from our drives through the regions of Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura, and a fascinating cave complex that we visited.

I have been listening to an audiobook version of Don Quixote (in English) and really enjoying it. Between Valencia and Madrid is an area of the country where the famous dreamer wandered with Sancho Panza and had the infamous fight with the giants, aka windmills. Before we reached Toledo, we went to a very cool spot called Alcázar de San Juan and saw some of the giants! It's a beautiful part of the country and we absolutely loved the old fashioned windmills and tributes to the wonderful Miguel Cervantes' book.

There's just something special about exploring this area that was so wonderfully described hundreds of years ago. It also makes me thankful I have a car and am not travelling around on a donkey like Sancho Panza, taking weeks to travel a few hundred miles. Seriously, how difficult would it have been to have a travel blog and making virtual reality travel experiences if we only had a donkey?! Luckily the rental car companies don’t stock donkeys and everyone knows a rental car is the fastest car in the world…

After Toledo, we drove up into the mountains and saw a lot of fog, and not much of the stunning views that lay beyond the fog, which would become a bit of a theme in this trip. We had planned several routes so it was a real shame that we didn't get to see what we were driving through. I guess we'll have to go back at some point and capture the beauty of it all.

What wasn’t hidden behind fog was a cave called Cuevas del Águila. These caves are three million years old and lay undiscovered until 1963. The cave complex is huge and we took a number of 360 shots to create a virtual reality experience, that captures the majestic nature of the stalactites that seem to hang precariously from the ceiling, and the stalagmites that rise powerfully from the ground. The colours of these formations are amazing, ranging from off-white to oranges, browns, green and there was even some purple! Apparently the differences in the colour are due to different minerals in the water, but as the guide was speaking Spanish, we didn’t pick up all the details.

As you can see, it was spectacular and we were blown away by the beauty. It really was something special and a great sight that was well worth the reasonably steep entrance fee (€8 per person).

Interestingly the caves are consistently a cool 17 degrees, which ensures stability of the structures throughout the year. It was pleasant to experience this warmer temperature on a cold winter’s day, and I imagine it would be a pleasant relief during the hot summer too!

One final curiosity we saw while driving around the Extremadura region was the town of Losar de la Vera. The main road running through this town was lined with dozens of shrubs pruned into amusing shapes. It was very amusing to see and if you’re into that kind of thing, this place would be your idea of Utopiary!

That's about that for today. Next time, we'll be writing about our trip to Salamanca, a beautiful, old city north-west of Madrid. Ciao.

Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (and our shadows!)

Don Quixote was everywhere!

Interesting shell-shaped stalactite in the cave.

Gijón but not Forgotten

The final day of our trip to northern Spain, or Green Spain as it is sometimes called, involved stopping in a city called Gijón, seeing some awesome ancient caves, and driving along the stunning coast again.

The day started with a drive up the coast to some more serene and empty beaches. It was a lovely way to start the day - a real sense of Morning Calm descended upon us. I really enjoy the ocean and despite living in Valencia, a coastal city, I don't see enough of it. There's something unbelievably calming about it. I think it's all about the power, rhythm, and never-ending crashing that puts you in your place.

We went to a lighthouse at the top of a cliff, which had some great views of the sea. It was super relaxing to just chill and take in the sounds of crashing waves.

With our moods suitably adjusted, we drove to Gijón for the more touristic part of the day.

Gijón is a lovely city with a fantastic harbour and lots of green spaces and cool buildings to gawk out. We spent a few hours wandering around, enjoying the sights the city had to offer. We were also in full 360 filming mode so don’t forget to check out our virtual reality tour of the city.

Gijón has a lot of history, having been inhabited since pre-Roman times. There are a lot of buildings from the 17th and 18th century from the enlightenment and general expansion of the west in this period.

One of the more unique structures in the city is a sculpture called Eulogy to the Horizon, located on the top of a grassy hill overlooking the ocean. After a day of listening to the waves, we got to experience them in an entirely new way. You see, if you stand in the middle of the sculpture, the sounds of the sea and wind are amplified and they feel like they are coming from all around you. It was very cool and added to the wavy feel of the day.

The next stop was a small village along the coast called Puerto de Tazones. It seemed very popular with the lunch crowd and the roads and vistas around the area were delightful. But we didn't stay long as we were heading to another cave, since we had enjoyed our time at Altamira so much!

We arrived at the Tito Bustillo caves for our guided tour and were blown away. We were unable to take photos inside, due to the delicate nature of the atmosphere surrounding the ancient paintings, so you'll have to take us at our word. They are spectacular and consist of animals, including horses and even a whale, as well as human representations. Some of these paintings were made over 33,000 years ago and the preservation is unbelievable. No-one knows why these ancient humans made the paintings but there are several ideas. Some believe it was like a school where young children or adults could be taught about wildlife. Others believe it was where folk stories and the first works of fiction were told. Perhaps it was simply an artist expressing themselves in the only way they knew how. No-one really knows…

It makes me realise the just how old the human species is, and how life has changed so fundamentally, despite our biology being identical to these painters. It really makes me grateful to have been born in the greatest time ever to be alive, rather than having to spend my days in a dark and dank cave.

Our final stop was Los Cubos de la Memoria, in a town called Llanes. It’s is an interesting area where they have decorated large concrete cubes with artwork. It was a cool place to finish the day and also finish our trip around this part of northern Spain.

It was a super holiday and it was very interesting to see an entirely different part of Spain, both in culture and climate. It's made me appreciate how big Spain is and how much it has to offer tourists and travellers like us.

Katie will be back next time to discuss all the delicious food from the Green Spain region. It's going to be mouthwatering and will let you know what you should be eating and drinking when you visit. So stay tuned and we’ll see you next time.

A couple of semi-realistic models outside the calm lighthouse!

It wasn't really beach weather when we visited, but I imagine Gijón can get pretty busy
during the summer months, as it has a lot to offer tourists.

This sculpture is made from old sidra (cider) bottles. Check out our next post to find out about the
interesting cider tradition in this area of Spain.

We wished we could have stayed in Puerto de Tazones for lunch!

The area surrounding the Tito Bustillo caves was unbelievably beautiful.

Llanes is another very quaint town along this coast.

A Road Trip South of Valencia

Katie's uncle, Graeme, is lucky enough to own a property south of Valencia, closer to Alicante, in a town called Torrevieja. We went to visit him there earlier in the year and made road trip out of it (map here), heading south from Valencia along the coast, making some scenic stops on the way there and back.

Our first stop was at Xativa castle, but going to gloss over it here as we'll talk in more detail in a later post. But let's just say it was a delightful place to visit.

We then stopped at Pozas Pou Clar where there are some lovely ponds, lakes and picnic areas, making it a perfect place to stop and eat our packed lunches. The bright blue waters and surrounding greenery made this a worthwhile stop and one we enjoyed a lot, despite the long staircase to get down to see it.

After our sarnies we jumped back in the car and headed through Parc Natural de la Serra de Mariola. It was a pretty enough drive on a decent enough road, but we didn't come across any outstanding views.

Our next stop was Bocairent, which is a pretty little town that gave us coffee and a view of some awesome caves. Our timing was a little off and the caves were closed so we only got to see them from a distance. We'll definitely be back for further exploration later though.

You can see all of the little cave openings hiding in the wall there

When we finally arrived in Torrevieja, we spent the evening socialising, drinking, and BBQing with Katie's uncle and his friends. Torrevieja is relaxing and charming, and FULL of British expats!

The next day, with uncle Graeme on board, we were back on the road. We drove even further south to a lighthouse called Faro Cabo de Palos, which is on the south-east tip of Spain. It's a cool sight and you can get up close and personal to take in the surrounding seaside view.

We then drove all the way up this tiny narrow stretch of land close to the lighthouse, with sea on one side and a lagoon on the other. It was very pretty with some good views, albeit considerably more built up than we expected, with huge hotels and apartment blocks on nearly all of the available land.

We concluded that it must have expanded during the housing boom 10+ years ago and has seemingly now suffered the fate of many Spanish towns, with mostly empty tower blocks and hotels. Still, it was a nice place to stop and have a beer and an ice cream.

Before heading back to Torrevieja, we made one last stop in a town called Cartagena. This town is flooded with Roman ruins and we didn't spent enough time there to really do it justice. There was a lot to see and it reminded us of Tarragona in many ways, but much further south of course. It's definitely worth a visit if you're nearby.

The next day we said farewell to Graeme and drove back to Valencia via a couple of places. One was an interesting salt lake called Les Salinetes De Novelda. This was just off the motorway and and appeared to have some more Roman ruins that were being excavated.

Our final stop on this trip was at Villena. This small town had a stunning panoramic view of the surrounding hills and picturesque castle. Again, worth a stop if you're driving past.

This was a whirlwind visit to the south of the Valencian county, and we'll be going back for sure. Partly because we didn't take any 360 footage, but also because we enjoyed it so much.

Hasta luego!