The main street of La Union
Having finished the project with s/y Fanny I had to take a quick tour to Spain to conclude an errand that had been pending for a while with my friend D.
Miner museum, statue
Being the height of summer flights were not easy nor cheap to come by but ironically enough I managed to get a one via UK. So I set off on the 13th with my sister to Nice to spend a night in hotel there in order to catch the early bird flight on the 14th. The sun was already scorching as I made my trek by foot to Terminal 2 in Nice. In the terminal was full mayhem with people milling about lugging massive suitcases. I was going light and only had a bumbag with a couple of spare shirts and socks so I felt overly pleased with myself not having to queue in any bag drop off points.
Miner museum, mineral samples
Miner museum, mineral samples
Miner museum, lights
The plane departed more or less on time and I arrived London Gatwick with time to catch my connection to Murcia. It also left almost on time, albeit more delayed than the 1st leg. Arrived late after dark and was picked up by D. Back at his pad we had a few beers and bit of catch-up, then it was time for shuteye.
Miner museum, ancient lights
Miner museum, drills
Miner museum, transport crates, both people and materials
Miner museum, miniature of a mine
Next morning it was up early and to get going around town. Then I drove up to La Union for lunch with D, as I was early I had time to visit the mining museum of La Union. The area had been mined for precious minerals as early as by the Phoenicians and then by the Romans until modern days. The activity was closed down in 1991, I'm guessing mostly due to pollution and low yields. As such all the surrounding hills are like emmental cheese, full of mine shafts. Reminds me of ancient Lavrion in Greece where there had been extensive silver mining in old times. Walking in those areas one had to take care not to fall in vertical shafts going down tens of metres.
Miner museum, miniature of a mine
Luckily the town was safe as I had wandered off for a nice coffee and Spanish pastry before coming to the museum. The museum itself was in conjunction with the town hall I think. The entry was free and the lady in reception was very helpful pointing me towards the start of the tour. It started with an informative video explaining the history and development of La Union and in the end the demise of the mining activity. In it's hey-day the town had several rich mining magnates building houses for themselves in La Union. I could still see several standing on the main street (Calle Major).
Miner museum, lead ingots or piglets
Having seen the video it was onwards for the tour and it started with various samples of minerals found in the hills and boy was there a wide variety of stuff. As the tour progressed tools and accessories were shown that miners had used as well as in the end there were small miniatures of mining enterprises built in the area. The tour itself did not take long to finish as all infograms were in Spanish I could not be bothered to decipher them so I just watched the exhibits and was through pretty quickly.
Miner museum, miniature of mine
As I was through I got a call from D that he had arrived for lunch and we met at a cafe' a few metres away from the museum. We had a local lunch that consisted of beer and tapas. As we had our fill we ambled off and visited an ex mine magnates house on the main street. The facade already came out as a sore thumb between the modern buildings erected on both sides but it looked much better than the newer buildings.
Miner museum, mine permit
La Union, mine magnates building
La Union, mine magnates building
The building was vacant apart from the 2 shops on the street level. The magnate had built the house for his family and he'd housed them all in 6 apartments on 3 floors. Judging of the construction no expense had ben spared, the floors in most apartments were protected by the museum and were fantastic mosaics. Even so the higher we went the worse the condition of the house became. There was going to be a lot of refitting to do before the house was liveable and ready to receive tenants. Entering the building was an impressive staircase that ended on top to a massive skylight giving illumination even in night. Each apartment on 2nd floor upwards had room heights at 3m or over, very large spaces that gave a light feeling. Having had a the grand tour and walked through every apartment it was time to head back to Murcia.
La Union, mine magnates building
La Union, mine magnates building
La Union, mine magnates building
La Union, mine magnates building
La Union, mine magnates building
La Union, mine magnates building
La Union, mine magnates building
La Union, mine magnates building
La Union, mine magnates building
La Union, mine magnates building, old "elevator" lamp
La Union, mine magnates building
La Union, mine magnates building, skylight
La Union, mine magnates building, top ceiling joists needing a bit of anti corrosion treatment
La Union, mine magnates building, staircase
La Union, mine magnates building, staircase
La Union, mine magnates building
La Union, mine magnates building, staircase
La Union, mine magnates building, dowry chest
La Union, mine magnates building, only frames left
In Murcia it was time to get some more tapas and beer by a big street watching people go by. As time went by we started to feel peckish and headed off to a local restaurant for wine and dinner. All in all a great time was had and we headed back to D's pad for some rest as my flight was the next morning.
La Union, old mines
La Union, old mines
Next morning there was not much to do anything but had a round tour around Cartagena getting to see the major sighs and it was off to the airport. My flight left on time but in London Gatwick had to wait for the connection, it was delayed 4 hrs as they had to find a flight crew. Arrived tired and frustrated at in Nice and checked in to the hotel at 1AM. Needless to say I didn't have to wait long for Sandman to arrive.
La Union, ads for miners music
La Union, ads for miners music
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