First published: 25/06/24.

Cugelvance 1.0

Rock Art Of The Mediterranean Basin

Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin (Inscribed)

Rock Art of the Mediterranean Basin by CugelVance

I visited the pedra de les orenetes on tuesday,the 28th of may. I am no aficionado of rock art sites. Thats for sure! However,the pedra de les orenetes site really suprised me in a very positive way.

But first things first I took the bus nr.500 at exactly 8.45 near the metro station "Artigues/Sant Adria in Barcelona. The bus was punctual and on the minute. Luckily, I arrived at the supposed bus stop around 15 minutes earlier.....well, I couldnt find the bus stop...it was not  there where it was supposed to be according to google.I asked some locals but nobody had an idea where that bus stop could be.I was running out of time when I discovered the thin pole with the timetable of the bus 500.That pole was the bus stop. Actually,it is only 50 meters away from the place indicated by google,but bloody difficult to find as the time table can only be seen if you walk on the street and not from the side walk.What is  more confusing is that just 20 meters away is a big bus stop with a covered waiting area that is served by many bus lines. Look out for the stand of a bike rental company with their bright red bikes....the pole/bus stop is between that bike stand and the street. Easy to find if you know what you're looking for. As for the bus its colour(blue)  is quite different from the usual city buses+quite an old bus. It took me around 40 minutes to get from Barcelona to the bus stop" Entrada Urb.Les Roquetes".....I was the only passenger for almost all the way to aforementioned  bus stop........the bus nr.500 is a kind of ghost bus: weird route,almost nobody knows its existence,no passengers. Anyway! I made it! I was even able to buy some croissant and a bottle of water in a nearby bakery before my bus arrived.

The suburban settlement of Les Roquetes is remote, inhabited predominantly by the upper middle class/lower upper class, every house has an alarm system, you don't see anyone in the streets, there are no shops, bars or cafes there. But there are dogs everywhere, I was barked at every fence, sometimes by 3 dogs at the same time. Annoying!

First I visited the dolmen de Can Gol 1 and then the Can Col 2. Nothing exciting....to be honest....quite disappointing and not really worth the trip by bus from Barcelona to Les Roquetes and then the steep way up to the dolmen.However, when I reached the " Pedra de les Orenetes"I was overwhelmed by the sight of that rock..what an enchanting, magical and otherworldly place, a rock surrounded by smaller rocks. Nobody was there...I was the only human being out there.I walked around the rock,took some picutures,and then climbed up the rock to sit down there and enjoyed the splendid view as well as the silence....almost meditative...even me, a human being from the 21 century,was struck by the rock's size,by its beautiful surroundings....... by the palpably magical aura of that place.

I looked for the two drawings which were supposed to be found on the rock according to the nearby information board. I couldnt find a single one....apart from some graffiti.

The entire area around the rock is bewitching so that I started walking around and forgot the time of my return bus completely. As soon as I remembered it I had to run to get my bus which was supposed to be at the bus at 11.25.....I arrived at the bus stop at 11.35.....waited there for around 20 minutes and then decided to walk to Vilanova de Valles from where buses(bus 596)  run more frequently to Granollers as the next bus serving the les roquetes bus stop would be there at around 13.30. I wasnt in the mood to wait more than 1,5 hours at a desolate bus stop nor did I have the energy to go up the steep streets of les roquetes again. According to google I had to walk around 30 minutes to reach Vilanova....I reached it in around 17 minutes and had still time to have a needed coffee in the bar near the bus stop there. From Granollers there are frequent suburban trains to Barcelona as well as to other destinations. I headed to Terrasa,another small city outside Barcelona,where I visited the tentative unesco site "the episcopal see of egara and its pictorial decoration".

In summary, I can say that the effort and time to visit the rock of Orenetes was worth it. A fantastic rock in a fantastic place.I am still not an aficionado of rock art though.

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