Las Cuevas Restaurant Fantastic subterranean caves from the 1500s, converted into a lovely restaurant. Authentic classic and modern dishes are served at normal prices. The Caves history In the early 1500s started work to build the church which stands in the town of San Miguel de Salinas. The legend says that there was the arch angel Miguel who is the creator behind this work. The name of the village came in the 1600s after the church Miguel and salt lake. Sankt Miguel from Salt Lake. At that time there was no habitation in this area, and the nearest settlement was on the coast in areas around what today is Pilar de la Horadada and the small fisher mens village Torrevieja. The salt lake, the sea, and agriculture was what people lived from at the time. Spaniards have a tradition of building in brick since there are little trees suitable for building houses in this part of the country. The terrain in this area was also sparse and no growth of trees. Material for building houses had to be obtained from nearby villages, and this was a lot of work and time consuming. But - so they found that rocks in these mountains was pretty soft, so they began the work og digging in the rocks with hammers.. In the following news that the church was built, people gathered to the area to hear the message. In the beginning there were young men with their wives and as families increased, they beat out larger pieces of rock to new alcoves. They had no doors, but used curtain to preserve privacy. The families could be a full 14 members in each cave. Pipe was set up so that they could fire up to cook and warm themselves. Dinner table was placed in front of the hearth, so they all sat around the table and shared food, warmth and chat. Already in the 1600s created the first canals to rainwater. In one cave there is a well that was carved out, by the men who lived in caves around for many years ago. Channels were designed to lead the rainwater into the well, and all the neighbors had access to this. It rained a lot more in the past than it does today. A great benefit of staying in a cave is that the temperature is steady throughout the year. 20 degrees in summer and winter. At its peak, there were 17 caves in San Miguel, but today there are only 6 of which are habitable. In the restaurant's caves there lived families until 1986. The caves were later turned into a restaurant, and opened its curtain for guests in 2000. We hope that we can get to offer you the genuine sense of unity and shared pleasures of food that characterizes the energy in these caves. We will do our best to make you feel like a part of our big family, and we hope that you enjoy the food and your time here with us.