Coming back to Rio Aguas, we descend towards Sorbas through a narrow, rocky valley, lacking in any attractions. But all of a sudden, as we pass over a stone bridge above a dry stream, the cliffs of Sorbas appear before us. It's a strange city, built on a sort of rocky island surrounded on all sides by a natural ditch. The sandy rock forms a hundred metre sheer cliff lined along the top with low, white houses and long draping cactuses hanging from them. We arrive at the village by means of a dyke or embankment which runs across the sheer : the embankment's giant slopes are covered entirely with prickly pears and aloe cactuses. This extavagant village belonging to New Castille reminds me of Cuenca, another town which lies perched on the top of a sheer cliff ; the houses and their terraces, jetting out over frightening precipices, supported merely by worm-eaten beams.

A.T´serstevens 1947