From Bilboa Fran and I had planned to head towards La Ribera Navarra for an overnight camping car stop off point at Arguedas as we wanted to explore the Las Bardenas Reales area.
The Ribera De Navarra or simply La Ribera , is a natural and historical Spanish region nestled in the Ebro Valley. Geographically it is characterized by the river Ebro and the communities of La Rioja and Aragon. Driving through La Rioja, we are surrounded by the numerous wine growing producers, together with endless fields of grapes and large Bull billboards that dotted the horizon at strategic vantage points through the undulating landscape. We arrived at the camping cars car park where the caves of Arguedas can be seen running along a large cliff face running parallel to the car park, its no doubt one of the most interesting camping cars stop off points we have experienced.
The caves of Arguedas
The caves of Arguedas emerged at the end of the 19th century when the dwellings were dug into the cliff face by Arguedans with few economic resources who needed places to live. Another reason for the construction of the caves was the relative ease of excavating them, together with expanding the houses as the needs of the families increased.
The typography of the land made it possible to excavate rooms in the rock, which were arranged along the façade to take advantage of natural light, since only the most privileged had electricity. Corridors within the caves not exist and you go from one room to another directly. Originally many of the houses would have had a barn and a corral, since most of the cave owners were farmers.
In 1940 there were 52 dwellings in caves in Arguedas; These were abandoned in the 1960s due to the construction of social housing in the town. The vast majority of the caves have since been closed, but a few remain open which can be explored.
Bardenas Reales https://www.visitnavarra.es/es/bardenas-reales
Bardenas Reales is a semi-desert landscape forged by water, wind and sun and is truly a unique environment and very hot even in September.
The almost-lunar landscape form Bardena Blanca, is characterised by ravines and summits topped by enormous stones, known locally as heads, like the Castildetierra, the Friar and the Cortinillas. In total, there are 700 km of paths to hike or cycle, but due to the heat we just drove the loop trail to visit some of the highlights we knew about. In the summer it’s just to hot to hike 700km of paths. When you enter Bardenas Reales park area, one might feel like you’ve been here before, which is not surprising as Bardenas Reals has featured in many well-known cinema and television productions. Series like Game of Thrones and films like The Counsellor and The world is not enough. The environment is really dusty especially in
The rock formations resemble a mini Grand Canyon!
Amazing photos. One more place to pencil for future trips to Spain. Thanks Gareth
Labros, Cuenca is a a destination well worth visiting in Spain. from what I know of you, you would really enjoy what it has to offer and if you need a new summer hat, the straw hats known around the world as Panama hats are in fact made in Cuenca by local artisans.