Cave Dwellings and Wine

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It was 15 November 2013 when 51 fairly frozen souls boarded the bus for Benalúa.

Benalúa? Never heard of it! Well now you will! It is just off the A92 from Baza, in the Guadix Basin – that’s the valley in which the town of Guadix is situated, not a bathroom feature – and is famous for its cave houses.

Firstly, in the bright sunlight, but with a chill wind blowing off the snowy peaks of the Sierra Nevada, we visited Cuevas La Granja, a cave house complex. Originally these belonged to the owner of the local, now defunct, sugar factory, but now have been enlarged and brought up to date with great artistic flair and all mod cons: bathrooms, kitchens, and most essentially, televisions!

Our lovely guide, Sylvia, gave us a talk about the history of the caves, from their first usage as Neolithic man’s dwellings to fodder storage, from there to places of refuge from enemies, and coming full circle as modern ecologically friendly houses.

Our next stop involved Lorenzo backing the coach up an only-just-wide-enough street, and while the adrenalin was still flowing we disembarked to climb up to a viewpoint. Here the valley was laid out in all its autumn glory; green and gold stands of poplars between red and bronze plantings of vines and fruit trees, interspersed with the green of growing crops, stretching all the way up to the Sierra Nevada, with its peaks etched in white, while the light sandy hues of the Malpais (Badlands) enclosed the valley from the opposite side.

Next high spot on the agenda was a visit to the oldest cave in the area. Originally a Moorish stronghold, it now belongs to the fit and youthful looking Pepe, a picador extraordinaire, whose own home cave is an eclectic mix of tastes and eras. He is picking (hence the name picador) enlargements to several houses from the existing caves, and explained with enthusiasm the craft of safe cave creation; caves are more than simply a hole in a hill!

Next stop was Bodega Pago de Almaraes, with Natalia who explained the process from grape to bottle. This Bodega has a string of Awards for Excellence as long as your arm, and Natalia made sure that we fully appreciated the different reds (white was sold out) with a very organised tasting session, getting us to swill, observe and taste. She did suggest that if we didn’t like the wine, we could spit it out into the bucket provided.

Having taken advantage of the offers to purchase we left the Bodega, and the unused bucket, to head for lunch, back at La Granja. This was a succession of typical tapas of the area; by now it was 3.30, and our stomachs were ready to do justice to the 7 different savoury tapas. By the time the 7th had been consumed we were full up and ready for a snooze, when an 8th tapa appeared – turron ice cream! Somehow we managed to find room for it, before climbing, full of knowledge, sights and tapas, back on to the coach!

A fantastic day out, but cold in the wind. Except in the cave houses, which stay at a constant 20 -22 degrees all year round!

Jos Biggs