Violet's Cave - Bacor Olivar

On our recent trip to the area of Granada, in southern Spain, we've been staying in Violet's cave, which has been absolutely wonderful - I am definitely a troglodyte at heart. Actually, it's not really called Violet's cave, though it belongs to Violet - and Roger, of course - it's called Cueva de Almendro and in a little village called Bacor Olivar near Baza, which is a spectacular area in eastern Granada heading out towards Almeria.


We spent six nights there for the astounding price of 150 euros - for all of us - and I have to tell you that I cannot recommend it highly enough. So this blog is a homage to Violet's cave.

This is the entrance to the cave house - Mateo took this, which is good because we forgot to take a photo of the outside, but it's a bit out of focus - we told him later how to get the camera to focus before taking the shot. He knows now.

This is our bedroom - note, there is no window (or door) so when the lights go out, it really is dark!

The intention was for the boys to share a room and Romy would have the little annex cave to herself. She had been asking for her own room for ages but when it came to bedtime, she didn't want to be alone.  Ruy pointed out to her that she'd slept on her own when she was a baby and she wasn't scared. Romy paused a while to think and then said, "yes, but I didn't know I was alone then"  - which I thought was a well-considered response and she was right. So she slept in with Mateo and Ruy had the little room to himself!
(And Ruy is blurred because he moves about so much! Nothing to do with the photographer..)



Two sitting rooms - one for us, with a log burning stove

And one for the kids, with games, tv and dvds.

And a cave kitchen so well-equipped with cutlery, crockery, pots, pans and towels that we could have stayed for a month and had dinner parties every night - I was most impressed with the sharp knives!
And a bottle of wine, milk and water in the fridge, coffee, tea, sugar and bread and loads of foodstuffs in the cupboard - all for 25 euros a night!





The other things to know about caves is the fact that they retain a lovely constant temperature, regardless of the weather outside - so even though the temperature can drop to well below freezing in the winters of Granada and up to 40 degrees in the summer, the cave stays around 18 degrees. There were a number of little 'cupboards' dug out into the cave walls, where extra blankets were kept (not that we needed them) and these were bone dry and fresh smelling. Having become accustomed to the constant sweeping of tiled floors that goes on in Spain, I was amazed to find that the cave simply didn't get dusty and after a week of us being there, all I swept up on the last day were the crumbs dropped that morning by the children having their breakfast. And no flies or mosquitos! The one barrier to us buying a cave to live in is that so few have any land with them. Otherwise, I am a convert 100% to this eco-friendly, practical and cosy way of living. (OK, Cesar coped for a week but deep down, I know he's terrified that it could collapse! So we won't be buying one for that reason too. It's irrational - caves are as safe as...houses!)

In addition to being in a lovely, friendly village, just take a look at the views of nearby Lake Negratin!

There - I hope I have done justice to this lovely place. If ever you want to visit, I really can recommend it but if anyone goes again before we have found somewhere to live in Granada, I will be green with envy!