Summer in the Salamanca Cave

La Cueva de Salamanca, "Salamanca Cave" is close to Los Dominicos and alongside the Villena Tower. A whole series of legends have grown up about it over the years and it is mentioned in the works of writers as prestigious as Cervantes, Quevedo and Rojas.

According to legend, here Satan himself taught fortune telling, palm reading, spells and black magic to 7 students for 7 years. Some say he took on the form of the sacristán (caretaker) of the ruined church during the lessons, others a hand on a chair, still others a male goat. However he dressed himself, all of the accounts agree on the students' tuition: one human soul. At the end of the 7 years, so the story goes, the students drew lots to see which of them would settle the bill by spending the rest of his life in the cave of Salamanca - in service to Satan.The Marques de Villena was chosen to stay with the demon (or the schoolmaster). Using the tricks that he had learned for evil, hid in a vat of waste water from the cave, and made them believe that he had made himself invisible. The Marques left the vat when the demon had gone, and escaped from the cave. But, on leaving, he lost his shadow which could have betrayed his flight, leaving it inside the cave.

From July 20th to September 22th La Cueva de Salamanca (Torre de Villena) will open every Friday and Saturday for a theatre performance called "La sombra del Marqués". You can go to see it on Saturday and Fridays at 21:30, 22:00, 22:30 and 23:00.

Also there will be different musical performances on Saturdays at 20:15.

Come and enjoy this mysterious place!