A few years ago when I was traveling through southern Spain in the Andalusia region. In that region there are a series of whitewashed towns located on the tops of the hills. As well as being picturesque, the city’s sites helped with defense, as this was the last area contested by the Moors at the time of the Spanish reconquest of Spain in the late 15th century. These towns are simply known as “Los Pueblos Blancos” or the white towns. While this region seems very old to most Americans, what we were looking for was much older. Near Rhonda, the cradle of bullfighting, and located above the town of Benaoján, we had read of the existence of a cave containing Paleolithic rock art. Unlike the better known caves in Europe, this cave is still open to the public and the family of the farmer on whose land the cave resides takes daily tours.

We wander off the beaten track in search of this cave. Our route took us through these little towns and at least once led us down a street that quickly narrowed to a pedestrian path. The path got smaller and smaller until I literally had to wait for an old woman to climb onto her front step until there was room for me to pass. We turned a corner and got stuck. He wasn’t sure if the car would make it to the next corner. Finally, with my wife positioned in the front of the car and our friend in the back, we went on and on until we could get to the corner. It turned out that we had missed a key turn in the road without realizing it when the road almost doubled over on itself in the Andalusian hills.

With our sense of orientation restored, we reached the small parking lot at La Cueva de la Pileta without incident. A short uphill walk leads to a metal gate that blocks the entrance to the cave. There was no one else waiting when we arrived and we were left waiting with no instructions and just hoping this was our destination. As we waited, more and more people gathered, increasing our confidence that we were at least in the right place. The small group that came together came from all over the world, but predominantly from Europe. We exchange stories in English and other shared languages ​​with an intrepid group of travelers. This is not the type of destination where you are likely to see a bus full of Japanese tourists. We had heard that tours run every half hour, but this is not the type of operation that is done accurately. After waiting a while (more than half an hour), the door was opened to return the small group of tourists before and we were allowed to enter. We paid our small entrance fee, were instructed not to use our camera flash, and set off behind our guides.

The only source of illumination in the cave is a pair of oil lanterns carried by the guides. We follow them through a series of chambers and down a series of stairs further into the cave. Here and there along the walls were marked drawings of horses, fish and game. There were also simple pad marks on the wall, as if someone was recording the time. Some time ago, a long time ago, a small group of the first Spaniards (probably not related to the Spaniards of today but to the Basques) took refuge in this cave. The oldest rock art is estimated to be around 25,000 years old. Archaeologists say that the pottery found in this cave is one of the oldest found in Europe.

Overall, this family-friendly destination provided an extraordinary journey off the beaten track of tourist crowds and a wonderful and rare peak dating back to prehistoric times.