The ghost town of Cuevas de las Quinterías and the Zarzalar Route, in Nerpio, Albacete

When we think of a ghost town, we usually think of abandoned, half-ruined houses.

A route through the Júcar canyons, the Molinar hydroelectric power station and its long tunnel
The Powder keg de los Pinos and a shelter from the Spanish Civil War in Tembleque

However, in the town of Nerpio, in the south of the province of Albacete (not far from the border between Castilla-La Mancha and Andalusia) there is a very curious ghost town: Cuevas de las Quinterías. In September 2017, the blog Arquitectura Popular Manchega dedicated an article to this type of construction in which it pointed out that they were built, or rather excavated, in the mid-19th century, as a refuge for those dedicated to agricultural activities. The Nerpio caves were near an old road (now disappeared) that connected that town with Santiago de la Espada.

In their latest video, published last night, my favorite YouTube channel, Aventuras Entresierras (which I highly recommend you subscribe to) visited some of these caves, showing them inside and out. They still contain vestiges of what peasant life was like in the middle of the last century, in the form of abandoned esparto grass garments, some corn cobs, and even an old stove.

Furthermore, and without leaving the municipality of Nerpio, the protagonists of the video, led by the intrepid and four-legged Alfred, show us the Zarzalar Route, which runs through the spectacular Acedas River canyon, along a path with small wooden bridges and some sections designed for the more adventurous (the video is in Spanish, you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):

You can see some screenshots from this interesting and entertaining video here. Here we see some of the ancient dwellings of the Cuevas de las Quinterías, which were excavated from the rock using a hollow in a mountain.

The entrance to one of the houses, with a split door. This type of door was very common in Galicia, Asturias, and much of Castile in past centuries. They allowed ventilation by opening the upper door, while the lower door, when closed, prevented animals from entering the home. In the video, you can see the interior of the cave and what the adventurers found inside.

The beginning of the Zarzalar Route. Here we see two simple wooden bridges that allow us to cross the river, but further on things get complicated, as you can see in the video.

One of the sections of the Zarzalar Route. Alfre preferred to leave the complications behind and get his feet wet, something that gave my personal scientific advisor a scare, who says that now Alfred will surely shrink...