{"id":2564,"date":"2019-08-21T18:56:36","date_gmt":"2019-08-21T18:56:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.publiciti.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/?p=2564"},"modified":"2021-02-10T12:08:16","modified_gmt":"2021-02-10T12:08:16","slug":"xuq-en-la-prestigiosa-revista-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xuq.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/xuq-en-la-prestigiosa-revista-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"XUQ EN LA PRESTIGIOSA REVISTA THE GUARDIAN"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

The J\u00facar gorge: Spain\u2019s very own grand canyon<\/h1>\n

This dramatic 40km limestone gorge, off the tourist track in rural Castilla-La Mancha, has historic villages and troglodyte dwellings and, now, a chic new cave hotel<\/p>\n

by Lesley Gillilan<\/a><\/p>\n

T<\/span><\/span>he young woman in Alcal\u00e1 del J\u00facar\u2019s tourist office seems surprised when we say we have come from England. \u201cHow did you find us?\u201d she asks. \u201cNobody knows about this place.\u201d Nobody, she means, except the Spanish, and even for them, Alcal\u00e1 is far from famous.<\/p>\n

In La Manchuela, in central Spain, Alcal\u00e1 is one of a string of villages in the J\u00facar canyon, a spectacular limestone gorge running for some 40km through the province of Albacete. I more or less fell in love with the place before I got here. First, I\u2019d been seduced by a photograph of Jorquera \u2013 a village on a rock that looked so magical, I couldn\u2019t quite believe it wasn\u2019t computer-generated. Then I heard about a new boutique cave hotel nearby (Xuq \u2013 more on that later).<\/p>\n

And Alcal\u00e1, I read (thanks to Google Translate) \u201cis a wonder to discover \u2026 a place of unique natural environments and a very unique architecture\u201d.<\/p>\n

It has quite a lot in common with Matera \u2013 the rock-hewn city in Basilicata<\/a>, southern Italy, which is currently enjoying a year as a European Capital of Culture. Like Matera, many of J\u00facar\u2019s villages are carved from the cliffs of a gorge; both have underground tunnels, grotto-like cave dwellings and medieval roots. But while Matera is struggling to cope with visitor numbers, J\u00facar\u2019s inspiring landscapes (Alcal\u00e1 was named a site of special historic and artistic heritage in 1982) remain largely unknown. So if you don\u2019t fancy elbowing your way through the Sassi di Matera, this could be a quieter, more adventurous alternative.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Alcal\u00e1 <\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
Alcal\u00e1 del J\u00facar on the edge of the gorge. Photograph: Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We arrive from Alicante \u2013 a two-hour drive. One minute we are rolling across the grassy plains of Castilla-La Mancha, the next we plunge into the gorge. On empty roads, hugging the banks of the River J\u00facar, we loop around giant rocky outcrops, slip under bulges of limestone overhang and zigzag up and down vertiginous cliffs. There are views to take your breath away at every hairpin bend. My husband, Dave, is wishing he\u2019d brought his bike (he says it again \u2013 \u201cthis is better than the Alps\u201d).<\/p>\n

The young woman from the tourist office \u2013 Petra, a Slovakian, married to a local lad she met on a kayaking holiday \u2013 jumps at the chance to practise her rusty English and takes us on a walking tour of her adopted home.<\/p>\n

We begin with the castle, a Moorish fortress perched atop a tower of rock with dizzy views of Alcal\u00e1 as it tumbles downhill, slipping into folds and fissures of the valley and leaning into its rugged limestone walls. Petra points out the egg-shaped bullring (which may be Roman), the Roman bridge (which isn\u2019t), and the 15th-century bell tower of San Andr\u00e9s church. Alcal\u00e1\u2019s uneven terraces of white and terracotta houses look as though they have been pressed into the rock. Half-house, half-cave seems to be the norm around here.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Alcal\u00e1, <\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
Alcal\u00e1, with J\u00facar bridge and fortress atop the crag. Photograph: Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Casa Cueva el Castillo<\/a> is a once-ruined cave house that has been restored and turned into a mini-museum. The dug-out rooms once lived in by peasant farmers (nobody seems sure exactly when) have fresh white paint and are filled with rustic furniture, pottery and old farm tools. To add authenticity, there are live chickens in the yard, and a donkey called Margarita in a rock-cut stable.<\/p>\n

Donkeys aside, hundreds of J\u00facar\u2019s caves, just like this one, are still inhabited. There are cave rooms under our feet, Petra tells us, as we walk the cobbled streets down to the river. Some are open to the public \u2013 if you can find them.<\/p>\n

An inconspicuous doorway leads into the Cave of King Garaden \u2013 a vast subterranean palace used as a stronghold in the 12th century, with a 170-metre tunnel that takes us under the castle to a medieval lookout cut high in the gorge. The passage, which is cool, dank and dimly lit, probably hasn\u2019t changed in hundreds of years.<\/p>\n

From here a staircase takes us down to Cuevas del Diablo<\/a>, named after its current owner \u2013 El Diablo, a nickname he picked up in childhood. A poet and former bullfighter with a waxed Salvador Dal\u00ed moustache, this \u201cdevil\u201d has furnished his warren of caves \u2013 some of which he dug himself \u2013 with a large and eccentric collection of vintage stuff (sewing machines, radios, guns, cash registers, numerous Diablo selfies). At one time, he ran a nightclub here: a glitter ball still sprinkles light on the craggy walls of a cave the size of a ballroom.<\/p>\n

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\"Cuevas<\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
\n

The \u20ac3 entry fee includes Garaden\u2019s cave, a drink from the bar there and entry to Alcal\u00e1\u2019s disused cinema. Another Diablo enterprise, this too is crowded with curious collectables (a stuffed gorilla in a telephone box, rusty farm implements, a horseless cart) but high up on the balcony, rows of hard bench seats and an original projector recall this atmospheric relic\u2019s silent-movie roots.<\/p>\n

At Caf\u00e9 Masago<\/a>, in another street, in another cave, at the end of another long tunnel, we eat slow-cooked partridge with white beans and a gazpacho manchego<\/em> \u2013 a rustic La Manchuela stew of rabbit or chicken (or both) cooked with squares of unleavened bread. Seated at a circular window cut into the stone, we are at the penthouse level of the gorge, with views of the river a hundred metres or so below.<\/p>\n

The sinuous J\u00facar is a green snake of a river, flanked by forest, river beaches and allotments: the latter a patchwork of fruit trees, almonds, olives and neat rows of lettuce. Traditionally this was a market garden economy; now the area specialises in adventure sports (kayaking, rafting, rock climbing, hiking, cycling and canyoning among others). Groups of canoeing (often shrieking) children in orange life jackets are a common sight on the river, which offers miles of rocks and rapids stretching all the way to Cuenca, nearly two hours\u2019 drive to the north.<\/p>\n

There are several cheap hostales<\/em> in Alcal\u00e1, but we spend the night in one of its cave-house holiday homes. Casa Cueva Las Tinajas de Naya<\/a> (sleeps six from \u20ac300) resembles a normal village house from the outside but inside, three windowless double bedrooms have been scooped out of the rock \u2013 dark, womb-like and completely silent, other than the hum of a dehumidifier.<\/p>\n

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\"The <\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
The River J\u00facar in its gorge near Cuenca. Photograph: Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the morning, we follow the J\u00facar to Tolosa, a tiny hamlet 6km to the east, where the river widens and the vertical gorge is green with aromatic forests of juniper and pine. The place is deserted, but the stone-built AvenJ\u00facar hostel<\/a> (bed \u20ac32pp B&B) advertises energetic group experiences (such as paddleboarding, rafting and hiking) so it\u2019s probably not always so tranquil.<\/p>\n

In the opposite direction, Jorquera \u2013 half an hour\u2019s drive from Alcal\u00e1, is the walled medieval village whose photograph brought me here. From a bend in the road that climbs out of the gorge, we stop to take a photograph: perched on a lump of rock, with the river wrapped around its base like a moat, Jorquera looks like a floating island.<\/p>\n

With one tiny shop and a restaurant-bar that isn\u2019t open, deserted Jorquera seems locked in a time-warp but at the foot of its cliff we find an unexpected pocket of 21st-century cool. A glassy new-build restaurant, La Playa<\/a> has tables on a jetty over the river, a manmade beach with parasols, a menu of modern takes on Spanish classics (grilled octopus, seafood paella, patatas bravas<\/em>), decent prices (starters from \u20ac8, mains from \u20ac14) and staff who speak good English, a rarity around here (at last, no need for Google Translate).A few kilometres further on, we cross the river on a narrow, rather rickety bridge and check into Xuq<\/a> (suites from \u20ac124 B&B), the aforementioned boutique \u201capart hotel\u201d with eight groovy suites tucked into the walls of the gorge.<\/p>\n

The hotel was created by friends Victor Pinedo and Fernando Monteagudo, who left their jobs (in engineering and accountancy), bought a row of rundown, middle-of-nowhere cave dwellings, and embarked on a \u201cnew concept in rural tourism\u201d. They took the name from Xuquer (Arabic for J\u00facar) and jazzed up the cave rooms with memory foam pillows, original art, retro fridges, dinky kitchenettes and designer furniture (the odd Eames chair). Nearly every room has an oversized spa bath (some of them sunk into the rock); some have shower rooms and all feature bumpy walls of natural limestone.<\/p>\n

\n
\"A <\/picture><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n
A bedroom at the Xuq hotel, with bumpy limestone wall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From here there\u2019s plenty of walking and cycling (there are bikes to borrow), and towns and villages to explore. Xuq doesn\u2019t serve food other than a continental breakfast buffet and although all the rooms have a kitchenette, the nearest supermarket is in Alcal\u00e1.<\/p>\n

One of the owners\u2019 objectives, they say, is to spread the word about their region \u2013 and it seems to be working. The hotel is full, mostly with young couples swapping Madrid or Valencia for the soothing rush of the river in its canyon, and the smell of pines and wild rosemary. Overtourism is a long way off.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/span> Accommodation was provided by Xuq<\/a> (doubles from \u20ac124 B&B)<\/em>. Alcal\u00e1 del J\u00facar is two-and-a-half hours\u2019 drive from Madrid, or just under two hours from Valencia or Alicante. <\/em>More information from <\/em>lamanchuelarural.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Fuente The Guardian: https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/travel\/2019\/aug\/17\/spain-jucar-gorge-alcala-cave-dwellings-hotel<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The J\u00facar gorge: Spain\u2019s very own grand canyon This dramatic 40km limestone gorge, off the tourist track in rural Castilla-La Mancha, has historic villages and troglodyte dwellings and, now, a chic new cave hotel by Lesley Gillilan The young woman in Alcal\u00e1 del J\u00facar\u2019s tourist office seems surprised when we say we have come from […]\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2753,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xuq.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xuq.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xuq.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xuq.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xuq.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2564"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.xuq.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2565,"href":"https:\/\/www.xuq.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2564\/revisions\/2565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xuq.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.xuq.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xuq.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.xuq.es\/grupo_de_alojamiento_turistico\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}