Gruta de las Maravillas

I have to say right away that I did not take this photograph. Well I did take the photograph, but it's a photo of a postcard. Read on.

Despite spending most of my career in the heritage and tourism industries, I don't like going to tourist attractions. I hate the fact that you feel one of a crowd. I hate the parties of giggling schoolchildren who are more interested in each other than the whatever-it-is. I particularly hate going in a guided tour party. However.

Jeannie, the owner of Finca Buenvino where we were staying, said we must go. "I think it's one of the wonders of the world.", she said. So we went.

The grotto lies on the edge of the town of Aracena. It is under the hill that the town's fort sits on top of. And it is completely wonderful, magical, stupendous, entrancing, shocking, unbelievable, and altogether mind-blowing. Stalactites of a scale, complexity and colouration I had never dreamt of. Expanses of underground lakes that were huge, full of crystal clear water many metres deep. Enormous cathedral-like spaces that you felt tiny in. And all created by water acting on rocks. And all beautifully and artfully lit. (Ok - I personally could have done without the gentle strains of Mozart throughout, but that was completely overshadowed by the magnificent splendour of it all.) Completely over the top and actually quite difficult to believe it was real.

No photography allowed. So I photographed a postcard. So there.