The Silos de la Atalaya and the Cuevas de los Canutos, the hobbit holes of Toledo

Spain is known for its sunny climate. This means that much of the country experiences very hot summer temperatures.

The ghost town of Cuevas de las Quinterías and the Zarzalar Route, in Nerpio, Albacete
The Powder keg de los Pinos and a shelter from the Spanish Civil War in Tembleque

This climate has had consequences on traditional Spanish architecture, which has some curiosities like those shown in the latest video published by my favorite YouTube channel, Aventuras Entresierras, to which I encourage you to subscribe. This time, the protagonists of the video enter the lands of Castile-La Mancha, specifically in the municipalities of Villacañas and Villatobas, in the province of Toledo.

Their first stop is a visit to the Silos de la Atalaya, in Villacañas, underground dwellings whose origins date back to the time of the ancient Iberians, according to some, and which served to provide shelter for farmers and livestock during the time of farming and harvesting fruits, according to hispanianostra.org. There were once more than 1,000 silos, but today only fewer than 20 remain.

The next stop is the ghost town of El Calaminar, a village of pre-Roman origin, also located in Villacañas and currently uninhabited. In this case, the dwellings are traditional houses located at ground level. Finally, the video takes us to Cuevas de los Canutos, in Villatobas. I have found little information about them. Apparently, like the Atalaya Silos, they served as homes for farmers and to protect livestock from the elements (the video is in Spanish, you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):

Here you can see some screenshots from this interesting tour of the hobbit holes in the province of Toledo. Here we can see one of the Silos de la Atalaya. The video shows what they look like inside; it's truly amazing.

An image of the ghost town of El Calaminar, which was inhabited until the second half of the 20th century.

The Cuevas de los Canutos (Canutos Caves), another example of traditional construction taking advantage of the land to house farmers and ranchers, as well as livestock.

The video ends with a bivouac in this abandoned house, one of the Canutos Caves, with a summer storm included.