WP_20140918_17_52_44_ProWhilst on a trip to nearby Antequera we made our way out of town (eventually, given a one way system, roadworks and a spanish-speaking Sat- Nav)  to see the nearby limestone landscape of El Torcal. Andalucia.com says:

‘El Torcal Park Nature Reserve is known for it’s unusual limestone rock formations. … within El Torcal Park’s 17 square km are some of the most beautiful and impressive limestone landscapes in Europe. The whole area was under sea until one hundred million years ago.

Then the violent movements of the Earth’s crust forced it upward into hills and mountains up to 1.300 m, the limestone still kept its layered horizontal formation. Because of this, over the millions of years the rain and wind have been able to chisel away at these layers to form incredible shapes…’

Of the three marked routes around this fascinating ‘Karst’ limestone landscape, we opted for the shortest, which took us around 30 minutes…..

The landscape was reminiscent of our recent ‘Tor Challenge’ in Dartmoor.  But here the fantastic rock sculptures (many of the more shapely ones being named after well known objects and animals) are Limestone instead of Granite, and here there was so much more exposed rock crammed tightly together, but again set within another dramatic landscape.

 Old School Gardener