Day trip to Orce (June 2024)

40 of us left out various pick up points for a day trip to Orce a small pueblo near Granada, to visit the archaeological museum. My pick up time was 9.50 from Alfoquia, a more sociable time than usual!

We arrived in Orce at approximately 11.30. The streets there, are very narrow and it took great skill by our driver to get the bus to our destination. Orce is situated in the high plains of Granada and is surrounded by a landscape of dry bad lands, deep canyons and crystal clear reservoirs that extend as far as the eye can see. Few travel to this remote corner of Andalucia, but those that do can get an insight into how the first people to inhabit any part of Europe managed to survive here over one and a half million years ago.

The museum was being looked after by one person who was our guide and also the receptionist which made it hard for her to do the two jobs at the same time. Unfortunately for the majority of us she couldn’t speak English but within our ranks was Sue Brand who came to our rescue and was able to interpret the information, and what a great job she did. Without her help the visit would have been a complete mystery to most of us.

Through the tour we learnt a lot about the history of the area and how man survived all those years ago. In days gone by the area was a huge lake inhabited by animals we know today but not quite as evolved as they are now. These included elephants, deer, hyenas, sabre toothed tigers, hippos and many more, who coexisted with Europe’s first hominids of the homo genus, us in other words. It fascinated me how all the different fossils and bones could be differentiated in to species, sex and age. Also the fact that in what are now desert-like lands was once home to all those animals that are now only comparable with what is found in the African wild life parks of today.

Out of all the exhibits we saw I think the most amazing was a child’s tooth dating back 1.4 million years. Talk about a needle in a hay stack! They are still studying and excavating the area and it will be interesting to know what they find next.

After our visit we travelled to Velez Blanco for lunch at the same restaurant we went to on our visit to the castle. Again there was a great array of tapas that just kept on coming with an ample supply of “bebidas”!

Thanks must go to Alan and Frank for organizing another interesting and successful trip. I am already looking forward to the next one which I believe will be in the Autumn.

Peter R Williams
Publicity