Last Friday the roomies and I woke up early and were out the door by 10 am. We were heading towards Granada, where we were going to drop off Emily, and then Michael Lynn and I were going to continue towards the town of Guadix, which is about 30 minutes east of Granada. Guadix is a well-known town in Spain and has a very unique aspect that is unlike any other in the country—its’ cave houses. Many of these homes are modernly equipped with the likes of electricity and water, but are built into the hills of the town. Often, you can only see their chimneys sticking out on top of the hill. The inhabitants of Guadix have used this style for centuries because during the summer they stay cool and during the winter they are well insulated and keep in the heat. A couple of thousand people still live in these traditional homes. Not only that, but Guadix has a backdrop of the Sierra Nevada mountains, so the drive there was incredible and you could see the snow capped mountains in the distance.
After exploring the Cave House Museum and actually going into one of the homes (a few locals open up their homes to tourists, often selling water, cokes, or specialty items), we walked back towards town and checked out the cathedral. We then walked and found a tapa bar and grabbed some lunch.
Being content with our visit to Guadix, we hopped back in the car and made our way towards the town of La Calahorra, which is about 20 minutes further east. Here there is a 500-year-old castle that sits on a hill with an incredible backdrop of the Sierra Nevadas. I was extremely excited to see this and I was not disappointed. After driving into town we drove half way up towards the castle, parked the car, and hiked the rest of the way. It was one of the most incredible views I have ever had. Check it out:
The castle does not look anything like a traditional Spanish Christian castle of the 16th Century. This is because it was actually designed and constructed by an Italian, so it is very unique to Spain.
After sitting atop the hill and enjoying the view for over an hour, Michael Lynn and I returned to the car and headed back towards Motril. A successful day of exploring.
Amazing shots of the Italian designed castle with the mountains behind. Did anyone ever actually live there?
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was occupied for I think a century but has sat empty for several more. At one point (early 1900s?) it was actually going to be sold, disassembled, and shipped to the United States for some reason but that ended up not happening. It was incredible though.
ReplyDeletecheck this link out: very interesting:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.andalucia-travelguide.com/about-andalucia/la-calahorra-castle-palace-granada-province/