#55 Underground in Andalusia

January 20, 2022: San Juan de los Terreros

F. By chance, Jenny had found the old mine near San Juan de los Terreros while looking for a parking space the night before, and there was supposed to be something unique there. To get to our parking space for the night, we had to leave the main road and drive along the coastal road to San Juan de los Terreros. The further we drove along the coast road, the more shocking our image of camper life in Spain became. The coast was lined with motorhomes. They stood crosswise on the beach, in the dunes, or wherever there was space. We decided to park in a spot designated for motorhomes by the city and joined the many white boxes on the beach.

However, the night was short because we could only book the first tour of the next day the night before. So we stood in front of the entrance to the mine at 9 o'clock sharp in rather cold temperatures. We quickly got an audio guide because the tour was only in Spanish, and half an hour later, we entered the mine, which was a comfortable 19 degrees Celsius. Of course, not without protective equipment.

In many places, the mine's tunnel had a maximum height of 1.8 meters, and I tested the impact resistance of my helmet more than once. Iron ore used to be mainly extracted from the mine. This was mostly transported to the surface in tons without any technical aids. I couldn't understand our mountain guide at all, but the audio guide was very good for that. There was a lot of information about mining techniques, mining life, and rock formations. In this mine, there are also rare fluorescent ores. At one point, our guide turned off the lights and then illuminated the walls with a UV lamp. The result was that the wall was speckled with countless colors. Green, red, yellow, blue, orange, purple, depending on the inclusions in the rock.

However, the absolute highlight of this mine is the discovery of a huge geode. A geode is a spherical cavity filled with minerals. In this case, the minerals are gypsum or selenite, which makes the crystals transparent. Unfortunately, only our guide was allowed to take photos in the mine, and the photo package we could buy at the end of the tour in the office only contained the photos of us. So I have to use a photo from the internet here to show you this impressive geode. It is absolutely spectacular to look at, and I can only recommend everyone to visit there. The geode has a diameter of 1.8 meters and a length of 8 meters, making it one of the largest in the world.

Day 97 - Total tour 5,928 km

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