A cowboy collapses after gunshots ring out outside a saloon -- this is not America's Wild West but Spain's arid Almeria region, long a popular backdrop for Western movies. The Tabernas Desert, one of Europe's driest regions which extends over 28,000 hectares, attracted Italian director Sergio Leone to shoot his iconic Western films from the 1960s, drawn by its barren landscape, abundant sunshine and low costs. Among the movies he shot in the southern region are his masterpieces "A Fistful of Dollars" and "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly", which starred Oscar-winning actor Clint Eastwood.
Other directors followed. Dozens of Westerns were filmed in the region in the 1960s and the area soon became known as the "Hollywood of Europe". Elaborate sets were built featuring dusty streets and saloons, now serving as Western-themed amusement parks that draw tourists to one of Spain's less visited regions, which still features as a backdrop for big-name films.
Mock cowboys on horseback put on a show for visitors to one of the theme parks, Fort Bravo, that includes a fake duel. Rafael Aparicio, one of the performers sporting cowboy boots and a sleeveless waistcoat, said he started out working on film shoots in Tabernas. "I must have been 14 or 15, and that's where I learned everything: how to ride a horse, how to fall from the top of a building, how to fight on the ground," the 49-year-old told AFP.
The car park was packed with trucks, large camper vans and a white tent, a sign of filming .
