Listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, explore the ancient roman gold mines of Las Médulas, and if you're lucky maybe you'll go home with some gold...
Located 150km West of the city of León, Las Médulas is an ancient roman gold mine which can be seen from miles away. Let's start with a little bit of history...
For two hundred years the Las Médulas gold mine was the largest open-air gold mining of the entire Roman empire. Torrents of water were diverted through the tunnels and this burst the mountain with its force and pressure. When the mountain fell they channelled it towards washing channels, such as the Llagúa de Yeres, and removed the mud and stones to extract the gold.
We started the day at the village of Las Médulas where we parked the car, and soon set off on the Senda de las Valiñas trail which takes you right into the interior of Las Médulas. The first stop enroute was La Cuevona...
It was over 30 degrees and the sun was shining all day long but we didn't let that stop us! So let's continue on the trail! In total we walked about 13km and we were extremely tired, but the next place on the route was the Mirador de Orellán at the top of the hill - boy was it exhausting to get there in that heat! The Mirador de Orellán is the main viewpoint of Las Médulas and therefore the most visited, and you can understand why once you get there, it has by far the best views! We took some photos and stayed there for a quick picnic.
After lunch we headed to the Galería de Orellán, one of the gold mines where you can access inside the mine through a deep cave and out onto a viewpoint. This view point can actually be seen from the Mirador de Orellán. Before heading inside please be aware of the opening times:
11:00–13:45 & 16:00–18:45
Entrance into the Galería de Orellán is €3 and you'll need to wear a protective helmet - and trust me you'll need it! Once you work your way through all of the tunnels, you'll find yourself in an open area looking out to where you once stood, looking out at Las Médulas. The lighting for photos isn't great to be honest but you can really take some nice silhouette photos as shown here on the left.
We then crawled our way out of the cave, battled the heat and went back to the car. Las Médulas has been a place that I've wanted to go to since I first flew over the area two years beforehand and it was worth the wait!
Make sure you don't miss out on any of my next adventures!
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