SPANISH HOSTELRY HAS ALL THE COMFORTS - OF A CAVE.

Byline: Jim Molnar Seattle Times

Carved out of the crest of a hill in one of Spain's most starkly stunning landscapes, about 20 residences comprise a unique hostelry: Europe's only cave hotel.

``People find comfort in caves,'' said Miguel F. Rodriguez Gomez who, with his wife, Loli Venteos Quiles, has operated the hotel for about five years.

``They are cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The stone is hard. It is the earth itself, not some temporary thing built on top of the earth. And so inside we feel less fragile ourselves.

``Caves are not just places. They are ideas - ideas in which we live.

``They also are the best places for wine to be born.''

Speaking to a group of tourists in his La Zalona hotel, Miguel poured from a clay pitcher and held the glass of fresh white wine.

``This is the only wine in Spain that will not give you a headache,'' he said. ``Come, I will show you.''

He led us to a heavy wooden door behind the bar, then down a flight of 15 stone steps into a long room hacked out of the limestone shelf on which the village of Galera sits at the edge of the Sierra de Orce.

A hand-cranked wine press stood in one corner, with sluices feeding into a trough cut down the center of the floor. The trough ran to a row of nearly 6-foot-tall clay cascos (casks or barrels), urn-shaped and open-topped.

``This is where we make the wine,'' Miguel said. ``In the old way. With our hands. Como por arte de magia - as if by magic - there is wine. But not so much magic as espiritu - spirit - or alma - soul. It is in the people here. And in the stone. In the caves.''

Sean, my son, and I had come to Galera, a village of 2,000 residents about 70 miles northeast of the Andalusian city of Granada, to spend a night in a cave.

Each one- to four-bedroom cave comes complete not only with running water, but with brightly whitewashed living room, dining room and kitchen, and sitting rooms with views over the river gorge that slices through town. The hearths that heat the caves are vented through chimneys that poke up through the hillside, giving the complex an almost elfin look as it curves around a courtyard landscaped with flowers and antique wagons and horse carts.

Eastern Andalusia - Granada province specifically - is said to have the highest number of inhabited caves in Europe. People have been finding shelter underground here since the Stone Age. The chain of limestone mountains that defines the region, the Cordillera Betica, is part of the same geological formation as the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Rivers, springs and eons of rains have formed (and continue to shape) caves throughout its expanse.

Most troglodyte (cave-dwelling) neighborhoods are well-maintained. House fronts are plastered and painted bright white; the facades make them look more like stucco cottages than caves.

Other troglodyte communities, such as La Chanca in Almeria and Santiago in Guadix, are more well-known that Galera and are even on some bus-tour itineraries.

Road signs point visitors toward the neat, whitewashed cave neighborhood in Guadix, a town about halfway between Galera and Granada, and even suggest snapshot opportunities. During the tourist season, residents pick up a little cash from sightseers in exchange for a quick look around inside a dwelling.

In Galera, Miguel met us at La Zalona (The Saloon), the restaurant-bar and bodega that he and a partner opened near the center of Galera a year or two ago to complement the cave hotel, and guided us through the village's narrow streets and up a winding hillside lane to the caves.

Although some cave houses may have begun as natural formations, others are drilled out the rock face, he said. In either case, it takes a lot of work to hew them into homes. Limestone is relatively soft, but the work of hacking out whole rooms from any solid rock is no easy task. Even the job of hanging pictures on the wall - not to mention putting up shelves and carving out exact enough holes for doors and windows - can be daunting.

The caves that became his hotel probably were used as houses for more than a hundred years before they were abandoned more than a decade ago. He and a partner cleaned and updated them, then hired a professional decorator from Barcelona to design their interiors and furnishings.

Some of the closets and alcoves, Miguel said, were originally stables, corral areas and feeding troughs: cave dwellers traditionally shared their shelters with their animals.

Inside the cave hotel, startlingly white, thickly plastered walls mask the raw limestone and lend an openness to the rooms. Only the lack of square corners - all edges and passages are gently rounded - suggests that one is living underground.

``The people who come here, I think, appreciate the history and uniqueness of the caves,'' he said. ``We are not well known, especially outside of Spain, but the people who come always come back.

``Most stay for a week or two weeks or more - because of what there is here. The kindness of the town, yes, but also the land. Around us are mountains, places to hike and ride bicycles. Around us are four national parks and preserves. Around town are ancient burial sites - necropolises from Roman times and before Roman times.''

``I think this is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I was born in this area,'' he said, ``and why would I ever leave? The hotel helps me find a way to stay, and to share the place with others.''

On Location

In the Spanish mountain village of Galera, 14 caves - each equipped with running water, electricity and plumbing - are available for vacation rentals. Prices range from $30 a day or $170 a week for a one-bedroom cave for two guests to $70 a day or $408 a week for a five-bedroom underground apartment that can accommodate seven people. Information: (34 58) 73-90-68.

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Box

Photo: Its chimney sticking up out of a hilltop, cave house at Casas Cueva in Galera, Spain, has an almost elfin look about it. A whitewashed plaster facade masks the limestone from which the dwelling is carved.

Jim Milnar/Seattle Times

Box: On Location (See Text)