There is Nothing Pre-Historic About Living In a Cave

Hello There, VivBounty here to tell you that being a cave man in today's world is nothing like primitive or roughing it. We visited and took photos of cave houses in Andalucia province of Spain. Yes, you read that right, cave houses, which are houses carved out of the rocks in the side of mountains. Originally the cave houses were carved since the invasion of the Moors and housed farm workers as recently as the 1960s. Industrialization and the growth of coastal tourism saw most of the caves abandoned. Today they are being renovated and embellished to become quite a trendy, eco-friendly way to live.

After our third year living on the Costa Blanca, Spain in what is called an urbanization, the appeal of the hot coast and a semi-vacation spot culture was waning. In summer we would step out to 40 degrees Celcius at 10 a.m. on our verandah. There were 3 pools in our complex of over 800 units, full of seasonal tourists. Visiting friends inland our province of Alicante, who had gutted rebuilt a little village house in Pinoso and others who had bought and renovated an old farmer's bungalow adding a pool coverted from the original water reservoir in Sax gave us the hankering for peace and quiet, great outdoor space for our dog, Pedro to run and the dryer, cooler inland temperatures. Considering trading the beach life for the less touristy one inland, we began perusing real estate ads.

A company called Spanish Inland Properties was advertising cave houses so we contacted them, got directions to their office from Gran Alacant in Alicante Province to their office in Galera in Granada Province. Les Edwards and Sean Lumis were fantastic guides on our tour of the cave houses.

We had a lovely time viewing the cave houses. They had the most beautiful Andalucian ceramic sinks, tiles and decor with vibrant colours.

The striking thing is how bright living in a cave can be. Sean who took us on the tour lives in one he renovated with his wife. He says he needs an alarm clock as his bedroom is at the back of the house and he said the absence of natural light would let him sleep all day. Not to be discouraging, let me assure you that the cave houses are built out towards the face of the rocks making sure the living areas have nice big windows and kitchens often walk out onto large patios with  breathtaking panoramic scenery. The cave rooms are sunk into the rock making the cave houses a constant temperature year round remaining warm in the winter and cool in the summer saving on heating and air conditioning costs.

We went to see an original cave, on in a small development of 4 grand cave houses to be built. The developer designs the houses while his wife and her family tweak kitchen layout, pick fixtures and decorate. By the time these ladies are finished you'd never believe you are in a cave! 

We weighed the pros and cons, finding this little neighbourhood a little too remote but yet being caves in a row, not a lot different to living in the apartment complex where we were. Leaving there, Sean advised us that should we want try out the feel of the caves there are packages with cave house accommodation for as short as a night and longer stays for vacations. We eventually left Spain, for the huge draw of family but have fond memories of our time there and are thrilled to have HubPages to share our memories and photos. 

Prosperous Blessings, 
VivBounty

Fantastic Travel