Ennio Silos

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Bardenas Reales, a semi-dessert area in Huesca Region is one of the most underrated places in Spain. 2 hours drive east from Burgos or 1,5 hour from Zaragosa it offers some of the most impressive dessert landscapes in Europe. It may look familiar to You as it hosted many well known cinema productions. Following my Movie Trail I got here by Irish-Micro-Camper (my Old-Trustee-Mazda) from Sad Hill Cemetery (The Good The Bad and The Ugly location). James Bond - The World Is Not Enough, Game of Thrones and many other movies were shot in this area as well.&nbsp;

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It offers great hikes and it is never more 2 hours away from Your car. There are only surface roads here which is great, as You can tell in advance that a car is coming by a huge dust cloud is creates. Like in old, good western movies. Driving here can be tricky though, especially when You drive a regular city car as I did. Better stick to the main road and walk additional 10 minutes to Your final destinations. Adjacent surface roads are not well suited for city vehicles. Main ground roads and fine but drive slowly as the gravel hits the bottom of You car.

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Cabaña de Piskerra, I parked my car at the footsteps for the hill. I followed AllTrails.com logs for this area, Piskerra-loop was probably the most impressive I did (https://www.alltrails.com/parks/spain/navarre/parque-natural-de-las-barcenas-reales).


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Drone restrictions. It is tempting to fly a drone but be advised that You are right next to a military zone. Altitude limit of 120 meters is a must and bear in mind that everything to the south-east (the main surface road indicates a no-fly zone) is a military zone.&nbsp;

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Be advised that this area is right next to an air-force military zone and You may expect some unusual spectacle. Throughout the night some spanish F/A 18s Jets were practicing low altitude target shooting, circling around the dessert in pairs at regular intervals. Loud sonic booms got mixed with some additional, mysterious noises and I only found out what it was the next day. Taking advantage of the warm summer night I enjoyed the late supper waiting for another round of fast-moving red blinking lights coming towards me. F/A 18 was flying noiselessly, did some manoeuvres and vamoosed. The rumbling sonic boom came a few seconds later when the plane was no longer visible.

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The mysterious noise I heard by night turned out to be a result of deploying life round of ammunition on the target. The same spectacle repeated itself the next morning. As I hiked one of the hills for a sunrise I got the best lookout point over the valley and could even see a straight target line they were aiming at.

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Morning view towards the military zone.

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Spain - Bardenas Reales Desert

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Sergio's Leone ''The Bad and The Ugly'' become one of the best-known westerns in history and turned Clint Eastwood into a major film star. It is less known that the set of the fictitious Sad Hill cemetery is actually located in northern <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/spain" target="_self">Spain</a> and the movie was made entirely in Europe.
<blockquote dir = "auto">The cemetery was specially built for the epic grand-finale scene by spanish military serviceman in 1960's. The movie become a classic and Ennio Morricone's soundtrack is a world-class masterpiece. After the movie was shot the place went abandonned and gradually overgrew with weeds and shrubs. In preparation for the 50th anniversary of the movie a group of enthusiasts dedicated to restoring the glory of the place which is still unspoiled with any modern facility (no electricity cables in the background, modern buildings ect.)</blockquote>
<blockquote dir = "auto">It takes a short 1 hour drive from Burgos in Norther Spain to get to the place. The place is located in a hilly area and can be accessed by a good ground road from Santo Domingo de Silos or Contreras. I visited it several times and some extensive road works were in progress to improve the road leading to it.&nbsp;</blockquote>
<blockquote dir = "auto">It is not a problem to stay overnight on site as I did, but if You prefer to sleep in a hotel Santo Domingo de Silos is perhaps the best option. It is a charming town and for the first time I parked by Hotel Silos 2000 where one of my friends decided to stay.</blockquote>
<blockquote dir = "auto">With the vocal support of Metallica's leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hetfield" target="_self">James Hetfield</a> the restoration movement gathered momentum as dozens of volunteers from across Spain did a great job that we can enjoy today. In summer 2022 the area suffered from wood fires but luckily the cemetery itself was not affected.&nbsp;</blockquote>
<blockquote dir = "auto">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhh6tvWVTAY (Metallica - Sad Hill Unearthed)</blockquote>
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The real place seems a bit smaller than in Leone's movie, who was using a wide frame shots blended with uplifting camera cranes. It is impressive nevertheless and the unspoiled landscape around the main scene (especially the rugged flat top mountain to the north) is breathtaking.&nbsp;&nbsp;
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For the movie fans ... the actual site of another famous scene from "The Bad the Good and the Ugly (Betterville prison Camp) is located nearby, beside the small village of Carazo, some 7-8 km to the east. Basically a pasture land today as no restoration took place there, but keep a vigil, perhaps something gonna change in a future. Together with a Blowing Bridge scene in Covarrubias (30 min driving north-west) that would be an epic set of scenes from this legendary movie.
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The good, the bad and the ugly - Ecstasy of Gold (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubVc2MQwMkg)
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“You see, in this world there's two kinds of people, my friend: Those with loaded guns and those who dig. You dig.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJCSNIl2Pls

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Ennio Silos

Ennio Silos

Spain - Bardenas Reales Desert

Spain - The Good The Bad The Ugly movie location