Pena Cortada Hike - The Roman Aqueducts

 The Pena Cortada Hike took us through ancient Roman Aqueducts that were high in the mountains.  Pena Cortada means rock cut.  This is where the Romans cut a long tunnel into the rock walls to bring water to their towns.  We walked through the three remaining tunnels that made up the aqueduct.

After that we found a delightful section of the river for a swim and lunch.  Then a stroll through a cool bamboo forest, with several views of the rural towns, ending back where we started in time for a cold drink before the drive home.  All in all it was 8.5 miles and about 1,000 feet elevation.






















We came through the aqueducts to find this Roman bridge...








Loved this photo of our silhouettes .... 



This sign says it's too dangerous to swim ...  but there were several people there swimming and diving off the rocks!

A peek around the corner was a surprise waterfall.



 Tom Peterson (student) took a nice swim during lunch.  



Funny little gourds in town we walked through.  

The blue on the inside of the window sills were designed to ward off the mosquitos.  



We found lots these fountains to cool off.  Many had pipes where the water comes out and it's drinkable.


This is a public 'laundromat'  The water comes from a mountain spring.

The ridges on the sides are for scrubbing the clothes. 

This is an Moorish tower.  It's a look out for the town.  As our guide, Dmitry said "Where there is a tower, there is a town".  The tower is built first as a lookout.  Eventually, a town springs up because the tower can protect townspeople.  


We ended our hike with a 3 mile walk along a nice river with lots of shade.  Spain is in a heat wave and it was getting to the hot part of the day by the end.










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