PHOTOS AND POSTCARDS FROM SETENIL DE LAS BODEGAS, SPAIN
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This post is sharing my photos from my time in Setenil de las Bodegas. You can find things to do in Setenil de las Bodegas here.
On my 41st birthday I touched down in Malaga airport at 10am and headed straight to collect my rental car for my adventure around Andalusia, southern Spain.
Many years ago I’d seen a photo of a crazy bridge that I really wanted to visit. As with everywhere I want to visit I marked it on my Google Maps in my ‘Want to Visit’ list. The bridge was Puente Nuevo and it was in Ronda, a mountaintop town in Spain’s Malaga province set above a deep gorge.
I started exploring the area (not IRL, on my maps and general googling) and I also discovered a little town a 20 minute drive from Ronda that also looked interesting to me. It was one of Andalusia’s many white villages but what was so unique about this town was that it was built in and under the cliffs that surrounded it. I marked it on my ‘Want to Visit’ list.
Flash forward a few years later and I’m sat in my rental car driving the 1 hour 30 minutes from Malaga airport to Setenil de las Bodegas, the little town built under the cliffs.
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The name Setenil de las Bodegas highlights the rich history of the town. ‘Setenil’ comes from the Latin ‘septem nihil’ which means ‘seven times no’. This refers to seven failed attempts by Catholic rulers to reclaim the land from the Moors, who ruled much of Spain for centuries.
Under the rock provided a cool, stable environment away from the blazing summer sun and heat of Spain. Due to these environment the area was the perfect place to store local produce, particulary the wine from the local vineyards. This is where ‘Bodegas’ comes from as it means ‘warehouse’ or ‘cellar’.
In prehistoric times, it was believed Troglodytes lived within the caves in this village. In more modern days, the villagers built houses in the spaces between the rocks, preventing them from getting too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter.
Did you know that …
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