Cave dwelling
On Sunday, five of us (the Norris Turners plus Alison) borrowed Joe's car to visit the Nerja caves and town, about 25 minutes west down the coast. Props to Alison and Abby who shared the driving duties and, despite very cramped spaces and tight turns in the parking garage, managed not to scratch the car on the way in or out. Up to now, we'd always just relied on Joe. Luckily, driving is straightforward: not too many cars, especially on the highways (autovias), and drivers are generally very well mannered.
We started off to the Caves of Nerja. There is evidence that small groups of humans lived here as long as 25,000 years ago, and continuously for more than 20,000 years. The caves are a major archaeological site in this region. Archaeologists have found cave drawings of animals and other figures, and perhaps a notation system, dating back to 20,000BCE. Those drawings are, unfortunately, not visible to the tourists because they are being preserved in darkness. But one of the drawings, of a goat, forms the logo for the site.
Whereas the Wind Caves in South Dakota remain somewhat narrow (allowing you to imagine the river that formed them), the Caves of Nerja open up into large spaces the size of concert halls, with enormous stalactites and stalagmites. I keep using the same words to describe the things we're seeing, but these underground caverns are mind-blowing, physically (they are just huge and the rock formations are wonderfully pointed and gnarled and twisted) and historically (when you try to think about the early humans who lived here).
You start to wonder if Gothic architecture, and maybe even some of the flair of Baroque fountains in Rome (Bernini again!) was inspired by visiting caves like these.
This formation (on the left side of the next photo) is over 30 meters high in the middle of massive, open cavern.
Speaking of concert halls, once a year they hold a concert in the caves (here's a clip from the late, great Paco de Lucia's performance in 2004):
Appropriately dumbfounded, we climbed the steps and went outside for a short walk into the still-developing botanical garden along the hillside overlooking the sea. We noticed the clouds seemed to be coming in again (see the report on Granada).
Even with the oncoming clouds, we decided to go into the town of Nerja for lunch. Nerja is an attractive, touristy town popular with the international traveling set and retired Brits. You hear a lot of English there, and the town has more high end shops than Almunecar. It's a beautiful town, and has a public area lined with palm trees overlooking the Mediterranean called the Balcony of Europe. But my visits there remind me why Joe and Jess came to Almunecar instead: while it is a vacation town for Spaniards, there are relatively few Americans, Brits, and other Europeans. Still, Nerja is a wonderful place to visit.
But the clouds really were coming in:
Here's the view overlooking the water toward Morocco:
As we walked to find lunch, some blue sky did pop through, and this photo gives a sense of the some of small streets in the old center of Nerja:
From there it was back home again for a bit of late siesta and work. When I looked out the window I saw this guy walking his dog. It's not often someone gives you this much advance warning:
We caught up with Joe, Eva, and Dom for an innovative game of Ticket to Ride that allowed for trading train cards (not sure what I think about that innovation, comments welcome), and then it was bed time.
We started off to the Caves of Nerja. There is evidence that small groups of humans lived here as long as 25,000 years ago, and continuously for more than 20,000 years. The caves are a major archaeological site in this region. Archaeologists have found cave drawings of animals and other figures, and perhaps a notation system, dating back to 20,000BCE. Those drawings are, unfortunately, not visible to the tourists because they are being preserved in darkness. But one of the drawings, of a goat, forms the logo for the site.
Whereas the Wind Caves in South Dakota remain somewhat narrow (allowing you to imagine the river that formed them), the Caves of Nerja open up into large spaces the size of concert halls, with enormous stalactites and stalagmites. I keep using the same words to describe the things we're seeing, but these underground caverns are mind-blowing, physically (they are just huge and the rock formations are wonderfully pointed and gnarled and twisted) and historically (when you try to think about the early humans who lived here).
You start to wonder if Gothic architecture, and maybe even some of the flair of Baroque fountains in Rome (Bernini again!) was inspired by visiting caves like these.
This formation (on the left side of the next photo) is over 30 meters high in the middle of massive, open cavern.
Speaking of concert halls, once a year they hold a concert in the caves (here's a clip from the late, great Paco de Lucia's performance in 2004):
Appropriately dumbfounded, we climbed the steps and went outside for a short walk into the still-developing botanical garden along the hillside overlooking the sea. We noticed the clouds seemed to be coming in again (see the report on Granada).
Even with the oncoming clouds, we decided to go into the town of Nerja for lunch. Nerja is an attractive, touristy town popular with the international traveling set and retired Brits. You hear a lot of English there, and the town has more high end shops than Almunecar. It's a beautiful town, and has a public area lined with palm trees overlooking the Mediterranean called the Balcony of Europe. But my visits there remind me why Joe and Jess came to Almunecar instead: while it is a vacation town for Spaniards, there are relatively few Americans, Brits, and other Europeans. Still, Nerja is a wonderful place to visit.
But the clouds really were coming in:
Here's the view overlooking the water toward Morocco:
As we walked to find lunch, some blue sky did pop through, and this photo gives a sense of the some of small streets in the old center of Nerja:
From there it was back home again for a bit of late siesta and work. When I looked out the window I saw this guy walking his dog. It's not often someone gives you this much advance warning:
We caught up with Joe, Eva, and Dom for an innovative game of Ticket to Ride that allowed for trading train cards (not sure what I think about that innovation, comments welcome), and then it was bed time.
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