Just an hour away from the Mediterranean seaside resort of Almeria lies the Tabernas desert, one of the most dramatic landscapes in Spain.
The only semi-desert in Europe, Tabernas has a surreal lunar landscape quality to it. It’s expansive arid space is full of ravaged ravines, parched river beds and barren slopes devoid of vegetation. Appearing very similar to the American Wild West. 

In 1963, an obscure Italian director named Sergio Leone was given US$200,000, a load of leftover film stock and told to make a western.

With a script based on Akira Kurosawa's samurai epic Yojimbo, an American TV actor named Clint Eastwood, a music composer named Ennio Morricone, and a cameraman named Massimo Dallamano, Leone made what was essentially supposed to be a throw-away film: A Fistful of Dollars.

Leone's unique style, artistic camera angles, extension of time and raw, explosive violence presented a view of the West, which was  different from any Western that had come before.

Leone followed up with a sequel in 1965: For a Few Dollars More, this time teaming Eastwood with Lee Van Cleef as rival bounty hunters. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) with Eastwood, Van Cleef and Eli Wallach was the last of Leone's Dollars Trilogy.

Between 1960 and 1975, nearly 600 westerns were made in Europe. Because most of them were financed by Italian companies, they were called spaghetti westerns.

Other well known films filmed in the area include Raiders Of The Lost Arc and the original Lawrence Of Arabia, Cleoptra and Doctor Zhivago. One of the most recent pieces of filming to take place was David Beckham shooting the Pepsi advert.

Many of the film sets have been turned into theme parks the most notable of which is Mini Hollywood (recently renamed Oasys) which includes a zoo and water park. Entry costs a little less than a fistful of Euros and it is possible to buy a poncho, Stetson, fake Colt or Winchester from one of the gift shops for a few Euros more, you can even take home a sepia tinted photo of yourself dressed up like a cowboy next to a wagon in the main square.

There are two other similar theme parks in the area, Western Leone and Texas Hollywood.

Tabernas also has a number of interesting sights, including a ruined medieval Moorish fortress which served as a refuge for the Catholic monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella during the seige of Almeria. Best of all, the area enjoys some of the clearest skies in Europe, making it perfect for star-gazing.

So if a trip to the real wild west isn't quite within your budget this year how about a drive down to the badlands of Almeria instead?