After reading Els disappointment with a visit to the new copy of Altamira which correlated with some friends experiences, I decided to forgo a trip along to Cantabria and instead visited one of the Western most inscribed caves, Tito Bustillo, which was regarded as one of the four most important in the inscription.

This was my first cognisant visit to a cave art site, so I don’t have much to compare it with, however I was massively impressed by the examples I saw. It was a long walk (1km) through a rather impressive cave, displaying all of the features one would expect, stalagmites/tites etc. We then got to a dark section of the cave and our guide shuffled us into position, she then shone her torch on the art and I must admit I joined in when the rest of the group gasped. The depictions of animals were limited but very impressive. Our guide proceeded to give a very thorough explanation (in Spanish, but I got the gist, and the movement of the torchlight made it very easy to follow) and show that there were many other faint representations with-in the gallery.

Unfortunately it is not possible to reach the ‘Cave of Vulvas’ for which Tito Bustillo is particularly renowned (one of the earliest examples of art with sexual motivations), we were shown the access point to the cave system in which it lies and without proper caving equipment and a very bendy body it is inaccessible. This was a shame; however I left my first dabbling with cave art wanting to see more.

Tito Bustillo is located in the charming fishing town of Ribadesella, located on a great piece of coastline butted against the sea by the peaks of the Picos de Europa national park. The town also has a selection of Dinosaur footprints and is located on the Camino del Norte so has the remote potential of having 3 WHS. Even if it doesn’t get this accolade it is still a very charming and well connected town that I really enjoyed spending a sunny day in.

The Cave art I saw at Tito Bustillo was really impressive and I would happily visit more sites based on this experience. This cave was regarded as one of the four most important in the inscription so I feel I have done the site some justice, but would happily return to visit more of the caves.

Information on visiting Tito Bustillo can be found here and Tickets can be reserved here (in Spanish)

[Rating: Site 7, Experience 7]