Sierra de Maria Nature Park

Centro de Visitantes Sierra Maria-Los
Velez (park visitors’ centre)
Amacen de Trigo
Marques de los Velez s/n
04830 Velez Blanco (Almeria)
Spain.
Tel : (0034) 950 415 651
Fax: (0034) 950 614 931

Visitors to the Sierra de Maria Nature Park, in the Los Velez area, could be forgiven for thinking that they are seeing a mirage.

In what is one of the most arid provinces of Europe, the traveler's gaze is meet by a majestic forest that guards myriad secrets. White in the chill of winter and green the rest of the year, the park is an invitation to explore the paths that trial between the pine trees. For those of more adventurous sprit, take a step back into history and visit the caves, which are more like underground cathedrals, and many of which have cave paintings. But the best way to get to know the park is to visit the Velez Blanco park information centre and pick up some information.

Viewed from a distance the Sierra Maria-Los Velez, with its sheer mountain slopes gouged by centuries of rain and wind, holds little indication of the treasures it conceals. Yet this 54,000-acre area, now protected as a nature park, has many surprises for the visitor, including a rural lifestyle long disappeared from other parts of Spain. Here, goatherds still spend the night under the stars as they guard their flocks, families bake their daily bread in the communal oven, and day-to-day business is carried on at an unhurried, human pace.

Not far from where the Indalo was found is the Cueva de los Letreros (the Cave of Symbols), where striking stylised drawings of witch doctors, warriors and game indicate that man has called this land home since prehistory. But if there is one single site that stands out as the Sierra’s most prominent landmark it is the striking profile of the castle above the village of Velez Blanco. Rising with astounding verticality on a hilltop, it was built in the early 16th century by the lord of these lands, the flamboyant Marques de Velez, who incorporated the existing Moorish Alcazar to create an impregnable fortress.