He Ablitas Town Hall began work on rehabilitation of three of his elders cave houses located near the castle, with the aim of making them accessible to tourism. These caves, which were once used as dwellings, are being restored allow tourist visits in the near future and, later, transform them into attractive places tourist residences.
In addition to the restoration of the caves, a redevelopment and improvement of the castle environment to facilitate access to this emblematic point of the town. Planned improvements include the creation of a visitor reception and reception area, which aims to improve accessibility to the castle and, with it, attract more tourists and generate a structure for its proper attention.
The project, which has a budget of 40,000 euros plus VAT, benefits from a subsidy of 30,000 euros from the innovative actions in town planning program, granted to the Town Hall for the second consecutive year. The previous year, this same grant had enabled the construction of the San Miguel Caves lookoutanother point of local tourist interest.
The caves of Ablitas, like those of other villages in Ribera, served as accommodation by low-income families for many decades. As Councilor Ramiro Arroyo explains, “this project aims not only to restore the caves, but also to recover their history and their give them a new value in the tourist panorama of the region.
Another strong point of the project is the regeneration of access to the castle of the Agricultural Warehouse Route. This area, which has suffered notable deterioration in recent years, will be conditioned to create a stopping and parking space which will facilitate access for visitors. The intervention also includes the recovery of the visual environment of the castle on the east side, to reinforce its attractiveness.
This plan is part of a global approach based on the recommendations of the Healthy Cities Planning Guide (Ministry of Health and FEMP, 2022), where, as explained the mayor, Carlos Bonel“initiatives are proposed to promote accessible, green and coexistence spaces”.
According to Bonel, “the recovery of these troglodyte houses aims to highlight a historical heritage which, until now, had been forgotten, and make it a meeting and living place for residents and visitors of Ablitas“.
“We continue to take steps to ensure that cultural tourism has an increasingly important weight in the economy of our city as a generator of wealth for our people,” he concluded.
