Amazing, The Town Living Under the Rock
Living in a cave sounds like a big adventure. But in this town, it’s everyday life. For centuries, Setenil de las Bodegas inhabitants have been building their homes in the rocky cliffs.
The Spanish town, one of Andalucia’s “Pueblos Blancos,” is built on a cliff with a rocky overhang. City streets are distributed with buildings that use the looming rock as roofs to cover their white-washed facades, and sometimes the entire road is covered by the rock’s shadow. This location has served the city well for centuries as protection from the sun and invaders.
This small town is located 157 kilometers northeast of Cadiz. It has a distinctive setting along a narrow river gorge. The town extends along the course of the Rio Trejo, which eroded the gorge where the town is built in. The town’s history can be traced back to Neolithic times, with some evidence of pre-Roman inhabitants and visible remnants of Roman dwellers sprinkled around the region.
Despite living under a rock, this town isn’t so out of touch with the world as the expression might suggest. The bars, restaurants and food shops in Sentenil are ranked as the best in the region, famous for their delicacies such as chorizo, honey, olive oil, jam and Andalucian wine. On weekends, the town is a vibrant place, and the scenic white-washed cafés and markets under the rock are bustling with vitality
