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.
