In one of my earlier posts I promised to describe what it's like to live in a modernized cave house, so here we go:
Many people think that living in a cave is a very primitive affair, dark and damp, a fire burning in a small open fireplace, no running water or electricity, outdoor toilet. Yes, for about € 3000 to € 5000 you can buy such a basic cave in the South of Spain and you can live in it, maybe even doing it up.
Prices for modernized cave homes start at around € 50.000 these days and that money is definitely well spent in my opinion.
Over time, people converted some of the caves into modern homes with all mod cons. You might have a terrace and/or carpark from where you walk into the front part of the cave where you usually find a lobby, a bathroom, a sitting room and depending on the design, the kitchen. These rooms have windows to the outside world. But the bedrooms and other utility rooms are way underground with a constant temperature of around 18 degrees C much like a "bodega" or a cellar.
And this constant temperature is the attraction. There is no need for aircon or heating, the temperature does not change neither in summer nor in winter. As I'm sitting here writing, the temperature outdoors is over 35 degrees C, yet, in our sitting room the temperature is a very agreeable 23 degrees C, the bedrooms have 18 degrees and all windows and the main door are open.
It's also very, very quiet in such caves. Occasionally you might hear a car passing, but in the bedrooms you are guaranteed a deep peaceful sleep!
There are many towns and villages in Spain that offer caves. For example: Almeria, Guadix, Baza, Cúllar, Orce, just to mention a few and we live in Galera: http://www.andalucia.com/province/granada/huescar/galera/home.htm
And if living in a cave house makes you feel like a Hobbit, then living in Galera definitely feels like living in a Hobbit village. Everything here is so quaint and cute! During the day you see the white washed fronts of the caves running up a hill and down in the village, there is a church, a market place, museum, shops and nice Spanish houses, bars and restaurants. And during the night, most cave houses are lit up with colourful and even artistic lighting. Nice.
The main tourist season here is summer when people come from all over to escape the heat. There are hotels, holiday rentals of caves, cave hotels - literally absolutely cool! ;)
Morning temperatures are quite low and ideal for working outdoors and in the evening, the warm air invites to sitting outdoors, having dinner or a glass of wine with friends on the terrace.
There are not many gardens here, although the holiday rentals have a small garden in front of the cave house. We are talking desert climate here.
Water is not a problem in Galera as there are two small rivers converging right at the beginning of the village. And if they have problems with water in every other part of southern Spain, Galera has plenty of water and so we have a thriving, vertical terrace garden here.
I don't have a good camera, so I shall leave you with a link to the Estate Agent from which we bought our property. There they have lots of professionally made pictures from cave fronts and the inside rooms: http://www.rusticom.co.uk/spanish_properties/inland/rural/cave_houses.html
Of course, we think that "our" cave house is the prettiest although it is not very big, but definitely very comfortable for my husband and myself. We moved in late November 2016. A few months later, we found that The Guardian newspaper had featured our cave house in an article about living in caves:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/gallery/2016/nov/02/homes-underground-in-pictures
Yes, that's our little cave as it looked when we bought it. The former owners had decorated it in real Hobbit style. Of course, we made a few changes to suit our tastes and needs.
Our cave house now in July 2017 with new roof:
Another BIG advantage of buying a cave house is that normal houses have all those new (mostly EU) regulations slapped onto them and it's difficult to make the owners of the houses comply with those new regulations. Especially the banks selling their repossessed houses are totally unhelpful and don't provide even the minimum of receipts and legally required documents. To get these documents, who do you think is paying? - Exactly. The buyer. And that will be very expensive.
But cave houses are almost exempt from all those new regulations, because they just don't fit in! Big advantage - big savings!
We also found that the cost of living is much lower in Andalucia, especially in the villages. We had lived near Denia/Alicante for 14 years before we moved south and the cost of living there is definitely a lot higher as are the prices for houses!
Finally, we have settled for good here and we are very happy in Galera! The Spanish people are so friendly, helpful and accommodating, cost of living is low and there is quite a big English community here plus 3 German ladies, one of them is myself.
And if you like history and archaeology, then this area is a true treasure trove!
If you have any questions on "troglodyte" living, please reply to this post, I will answer all questions gladly!
Love to all!
