Day 45: Las Médulas

Another day of travel and World Heritage! Departed our apartment at the usual time, around 10:30am, and headed south-east for today's destination: the ancient Roman gold mines of Las Médulas. The drive was about an hour or so, and we arrived around midday after a couple of stops.

Las Médulas was founded in the first century AD, and was the largest and most productive gold mine in the entire Roman empire. Over the 250 years it operated, they extracted around 1.6 million kilograms of gold, an absolutely staggering amount. They used a method they called "wrecking of mountains", where they'd dig tunnels and shafts downwards behind cliff faces, flood them with water and let the extra weight collapse the mountain. Then all they needed to do was walk into the valley and pick up the gold.

But what really gives the site a unique look is that when the empire collapsed, nobody really had the manpower or the know-how to keep the mines operating, so whole area just returned to nature. These days it's a really strange landscape of jagged orange cliffs and pinnacles jutting out of lush green vegetation, and it's bizarre to think that the site is almost entirely man-made.

First stop was the mirador (viewpoint) which gives a great view across the whole area, then we headed down into the valley for a walk around amongst the rocks. Had a bite of lunch in the carpark (we'd brought baguettes, jamon y queso from the supermarket), then set off for a four kilometre loop through the park. Was great to see the rocks jutting up above, as well as large caves set into the cliffs.

One of our main primary sources of knowledge about the operation comes from a famous Roman called Pliny the Younger, who was a procurator (essentially a mayor) of the area at the time. One of his writings mentioned how the workers in the mines don't see sunlight for weeks, which is a bit harrowing! There's one tunnel you can go inside, so we doubled-over and scrambled through. Interesting to see, and makes you very glad it's not your lot in life!

After our decent walk we stopped in a cafe near the car park hoping for a relaxing drink, but a lot of screaming toddlers and noisy families meant it was fairly unpleasant. So back to the car, where we headed for our accommodation, this time staying the spare room of a family's large farmhouse outside the town of Cacabelos. It was a little odd staying with a family (mum, dad and one of their two daughters - the other was on a school excursion in London), particularly since they didn't speak much English and we don't speak much Spanish.

But they did give us a good tip for a restaurant in town where we went for dinner. Very rustic style building, with a huge fire, large stone walls and wooden beams on the ceiling. Lots of hearty, earthy food traditional to the area, Galicia. Shandos had a dish of ribs and oxtail, while I had a fried goat's cheese and an empanada of mince and potato (normally these are deep-fried sort of like pasties, but this was more like a pie!). Very delicious.

Back to our house where we had some stilted conversation with the family before going to bed.Read more