Spanish Towns Built on the Edge

Have you ever felt living on the edge? Not metaphorically speaking it is for real! Living in a house hanging on a cliff or high rocks might sound scary and unbelievable but there are some Spanish towns that make it real.

The idea sounds contradictory to the common image of Mediterranean lifestyle with sea and sun yet it is another side of Spanish culture. It was a general tendency to build the houses on the steps of the hills to keep away the attacks or preferred preserved locations just because of geographical reasons. Some Spanish towns yet took this idea a bit further and literally living on the edge. In Aragon community, two very close towns are founded on high hills Albarracín and Cantavieja. The first city is the home of 1907 inhabitants and situated on a mountain bended by the Guadalaviar River and also surrounded by a fortress. It is available to see everything around form the fortress and the location is at a corner that the city has been conserved from the centuries and the traces of Romans, Moros and Aragonese still draw the attention while walking down the narrow streets. The other city showing the same constructional features is Cantavieja in Teruel province. This small town (the population is 757) was built on a hill surrounded by the Palomito Mountains in the north and a meadow in the south hosted Paleolithic, Iberians, Moros and Aragonese.

Moving to the north we reach Tarazona in Zaragoza where you can see the houses are built on solid rock walls which has been a trademark like in Cuenca. Cuenca is a city in Castile La Mancha region, situated in 946 meters above sea level which can be very challenging to those who have acrophobia. The place where the actual city is located was inhabited till the Arab domination and they took the first steps to build the city and the fortress having 1 km long walls. We can also see the city is bended by two rivers called Júcar in the north and Huécar in the south. The city is currently an attraction point of tourism and takes an important deal of Spanish economy.

In Catalonia, the town Castellfollit de la Roca looks like coming out of a fantastic world located on a basalt cliff hiding between forests above 50 meters sea level. In Burgos, Frías is that kind of city you will not forget after you have seen. Built on a cliff ascending which ends up the castle at top of it, Frías shows you the rural north view of Spain. And the last city of this list takes place in Malaga is called Ronda. The Roman Bridge and The New Bridge are the signs how high the city is located at. Spain has always something to surprise its visitors and these “casas colgadas” are definitely worth to see even if you are afraid.