El Torcal Natural Park has undoubtedly the most impressive Limestone Karst landscape in the whole of Europe and is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Around 200 million years ago in what was once the sea of Tethys, massive deposits of skeletons and shells of marine animals sank to the sea floor, and over a period of 175 million years created a horizontal strata thousands of metres thick.
With the coming together of the Iberian and African plates, approximately 20 million years ago, the layers of rock were compressed and deformed and eventually pushed up from the seabed to form, on the Iberian plate, the Gibraltar Arc.
The lifting of the once submerged strata helped to form a broadly flat plateau (which sits south of Antequera) and over the next 20 million years the process of rain, ice and wind acted to corrode the limestone to shape this spectacular karst landscape that we’ll discover in El Torcal de Antequera.
Our walk includes not just the main area of the natural park but also a less frequented path that includes an area called the ‘Seven Tables’ and the 'Labyrinth'. On this walk we’ll follow small tracks that take us beneath these impressive, sculpted rock formations, and to the northern edge of the park with views to the northern slopes of the Central Limestone Arch and into the Antequera depression.
With the walk completed we have the option to enjoy some refreshments in one of the small plazas in Antequera, and to enjoy the view over this historic city.