Castillejar

 This is one view of the town of Castillejar. It's like a huge wedding cake with at least five levels of caves, maybe even seven or eight in places, piled up on top of each other. You could say it's perched on a hill, but it's more like a monolith, Ayers Rock kind of thing, because it stands on its own with pretty much sheer sides, straight out of the ground. Probably it attained that form because it's at the confluence of two rivers which have over the centuries stripped away the slopes. 

Among the complex network of roads and pavements chimneys emerge at random through the ground. There's very little privacy in this town for if you are inclined to linger close by these chimneys, you will hear the conversations going on in the dwellings below! Historically there was little regulation of cave construction, and if somebody needed an extra room it was simply a case of digging back further into the hillside to create one. But following a number of collapses planning permission is required to do any new excavations in the town. 

This picture was taken outside the town of a new cave that has just been started. It shows the layers of sedimentary rocks, laid down on the old sea floor over countless centuries. Numerous of these layers are crystalline, presumably because of their salt content(?) and this is what helps to give the caves their strength and prevents them from collapsing. And because of the arid climate there is very little moisture in the ground, so things tend to stay where they are.

This is the humble Rio Guardal which runs around one side of the town. It's flow is controlled by a large dam further upstream so it no longer has a seasonal flood plain, but in the past this is what would have shaped the landscape. My sister Jenny and her partner Al live in some high caves along its banks about 2km outside the town. It's thought that these caves have been inhabited more or less continuously for 2000 years. There are also a lot that have been abandoned.

This is their front door.

And a look inside.

And a view of the back from the other side of the valley.

This is the room I slept in, thought to be one of the oldest in the cave. In the ceiling are the marks of the hand tools that were used to excavate and cut out the rock. It is quite something to sleep in a room that has changed so little over such a long time. 

Here's Jenny and Al, in their amazing garden which is also a haven and refuge for a lot of wildlife.

My hair was getting very wild and on my last day in town this lovely lady, Eileen, saw me off with a pile of victuals and a haircut. I felt like a new man.