Had a great hike from a village (or a La Mancha) called Chulilla. Known for its hanging bridges. The bridges were built for workers to travel from the town along the gorge and then across the Turia river to work each day at the reservoir. In the Turia river flood of 1957 it washed out all the bridges. The bridges to across the Turia were rebuilt in 2013. The ones along the gorge are still not passable.
Was a hot day but we went in and out of the sun as we went deeper into the gorge.
This is the section where the water flows into the canals. You cannot see it well but on the right side of the photo are the wooden walkways that lead around the gorge to the reservoir.
Here I am gracefully(?) coming down steps that led to the petroglyphs. We had to crawl through rock tunnels and up this ladder to get to them. They were only found in 1998. My photos of them don't do them justice. They were faint. They did erect a cage around them so no one can touch the rock where they are.
We finally made it to the top and were rewarded with this gorgeous view and lunch!
This was fun. We had to climb lots of rock steps to get up here and then even more to get to the second hanging bridge.
Looking down onto the dam site (that was in first photo) from high above water.
Maggie, one of the students on the trip, crossed the bridge with ease.
The cold clear water of the Turia was refreshing.
This is a cacao tree with the pods on it. I'd never seen one before.
This tree produces a fruit like an apricot but more sour. Really popular in Valencia
Looking back at Chulilla from across the gorge.
House where the water from dam is released into the canals. Our guide Dmitry said that it dam also produces electricity.
Along the canals.
More photos the guide, Dmitry took for us.
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