Grottes d'Urdax

The wisdom of nature has embodied the humility and perseverance of a drop of water. These 1,000—year-old caves hide a stream, the Urtxume, as well as a story. Would you like to hear it? Come take a 40-minute tour, complete with light and sound effects that bring out the beauty and the strength of nature. Legend has it that lamias used to live here, and some believe that their voices can be heard through the echoes of the Urtxume stream that flows through the caves.

The Urdax Caves used to be inhabited by our ancestors during different periods of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. The famous French speleologist, Norbert Casteret, discovered ‘a beautiful coat below the rocks’ of Berroberria in 1930, and Alkerdi ‘a cave with etchings’. The etchings located at the bottom of the passage in Alkerdi cave, are made over a stalagmite casting; where we can see a bison and a deer; and the third etching is surely a horse. Its date would correspond to the Upper Magdalenian, i.e. some 13,000 years ago. Today for reasons of preservation we cannot visit these etchings.

Downloads:

• Download document: pasaporte-turistico-esp-fra-alta.pdf
• Download document: pasaporte-turistico-eus-eng-alta.pdf