El Caminito del Rey, Spain

This is one of the most surprising of structures in the world, well, you can not  even call it a structure as a matter of fact! Besides there is a story behind how this path got a very famous name that it bears till date. The reason is that it has emerged as one of the world’s most dangerous and most  scary of pathways. One hand are normal roadways and pedestrian paths for people which are paved so as to provide maximum security and safety to the passersby, while on the other hand is El Caminito del Rey of Spain which stands out as a stark contrast to everything and anything you would have ever seen.

Simply put there is a gorge named El Chorro in the village of Alora in the south of Spain. It is very steep and stands as tall resolute walls that deny and convenient passage to people who wish to pass through the area that lies between two waterfalls, the Chorro Falls and the Gaitanejo Falls. It was realized that there needed to be a proper route carved along these walls to enable workers to move between the hydroelectric power plants that harvest electricity on these two waterfalls. The construction for maintenance and  supervision of both the hydro power plants.

Though the path was completed in 1905, it was not formally inaugurated till 1921 and then the king of Spain, Alfonso XIII crossed this path and to commemorate the royal highness’s walk across  the El Caminito del Rey. The path was renamed as the King’s Little Path. Over the time the path’s name has been cropped to just Camino del Rey.

Over the years the path has dilapidated so much than many sections of the path gave simply broken down and the path has vanished from those places leaving behind large lacuna which add to the dangers of walking along this track. But since this is a famous path, the large spaces are  being  held together with very thin steel lines as well as fixtures. Since out of the originally installed handrails, very few are still intact, he whole trail is supported by a safety wire. The King’s Little  path oir El Caminito del Rey is today one of the popular tourist attraction of Spain. The people come and cross this whole one kilometers long path with great zeal and enthusiasm not only because the trail is very narrow but also because crossing it is actually  a Herculean task that is just not a faint heart’s cup of tea!