Caceres Province, Extremadura

Cacares Province, Estramadura. Nobody there. Everyone that can afford to has gone away to the cooler north of Spain. Everyone else is firmly indoors with the blinds down. Jenny, I know you commented before, but when replying I accidentally deleted the shot! Sorry! Here it is again and if you wish to comment once more, I would be honoured!

Granadilla (Cacares Province, Extremadura) is almost completely surrounded by a 1950s reservoir, which drowned its farmland and which led to its inhabitants being resettled elsewhere. It has a castle, extensive walls, some nice buildings and some people have moved back here to cater for the tourists, and even do a bit of farming amongst the ruins! Have a look at the aerial view of the town on the map here, it's an interesting one!

Abandoned walled town in Cacares province. (Abandoned due to being cut off by a new reservoir in the 50s). But the fruit trees are still tended and the hay collected for summer, autumn and winter fodder (grass is only grazed in the spring).

Abandoned due to a 1950s reservoir drowning its farmland. Now a (minor) tourist destination and a few people work here in the summer catering for the few tourists and keeping the place tidy. But there are no restaurants or shops (not such a bad thing!) and although the fields and orchards found between the walls are still tended, no one lives here any more.

Zarza de Granadilla, Estremadura, deserted village due to it being cut off from the world after the surrounding valley was turned into a reservoir in the 50s. Castle partiually hidden by a large tree,

Due to the new reservoirs built in the '50s and '60s, many villages and towns were abandoned and flooded. Granadilla was high above the new reservoir but was effectively surrounded by it and cut off from its farmlands (please have a look at the aerial map to get a gist of this isolation). The population moved to the cities in the main. Some decades later as the place became something of a tourist attraction, a few souls moved in to open a restaurant or two and some tourist shops. I've posted a couple of other shots under my Estramadura album: www.ipernity.com/doc/2247598/album/999420 There is also this wikipedia entry; en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granadilla,_Spain I thought of 'When the levee breaks', a great blues song for this, even if it's not strictly relevant to the photo. www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYThZwcDUXk I selected a 'reaction' Youtube version of this Led Zeppelin classic, just because it was an honest and sincere reaction and it amused me!