Sunset over Castildetierra, in the Natural Park of Bardenas Reales, Navarre, Spain

© Inigofotografia/iStock/Getty Images Plu

A lunar landscape. The vanishing rock sculptures of the Bardenas Reales

It might look like the movie set for a Western, but this desert is not in Arizona or New Mexico - this is the Bardenas Reales, in Navarre, northern Spain. These lunar landscapes surfaced millions of years ago, when the inland sea that occupied this territory withdrew, leaving behind sediment that erosion then sculpted into amazing geological formations. This photo shows the “cabezo”, or head, of Castildetierra, one of the most well-known rock formations of this UNESCO-recognised natural park. The highest part of the column is made of hard sandstone and limestone, barely supported by soft clays that are gradually being worn away by the elements. Eventually these lonely hills will collapse, due to their own geological nature.The Bond movie The World is Not Enough and TV series Game of Thrones were partially shot in the Bardenas Reales - and they have their own real-life stories to tell. In the Middle Ages, a bandit called Sanchicorrota was known as "the king of the Bardenas". He terrified the region’s authorities, attacking their castles only to disappear afterwards in the desert, leading a band of 30 men said to be like ghosts. Legend says they put their horses’ shoes on backwards, so their tracks would send any pursuers in the opposite direction.