Jen and Rebecca Make the Mercury Rise

Madrid was just our one-night layover for the real Spainish destination: Andalucia in the south. Helpful Hilton’s free shuttle returned us to the airport to pick up the rental car so we could really get the journey started. (You can thank our rental car’s wireless hotspot for the ability to make blog posts in the car, and we are thanking it for the ability to navigate us across the plains in Spain.)

Since our failure to take a tour of the Idrja mercury mine in Slovenia last year due to not figuring out in advance what times they actually offer tours, we had a bee in our bonnets to see a mercury mine. Turns out the other mercury mine World Heritage Site is right here in Spain! So we specifically planned our journey south to Cordoba to go to this mine in Almaden, a sleepy little town in Castile-La Mancha. (Insert your favorite Don Quixote references here, or just imagine Rebecca singing “To Dream the Impossible Dream” ad nauseum.)

Pretty view over Almaden

Since we arrived with extra time before our tour (we learned our lesson last year and made reservations ahead of time) we wandered through Almaden and walked onto the world’s only hexagonal bullring (no bulls were present at the time, though that would certainly have added an element of excitement!) We also climbed up to the Alcazar Retamar for lovely views of the surrounding countryside, and which seemed to be the home of a very large bird, at least judging from the gigantor nest on top.

Hexagonal Bullring 



Castle's giant nest



Rebecca’s three semesters of college Spanish seems to have come flooding back to her, and she was able to haltingly order lunch, though inadvertently getting everyone croquettes instead of the sandwiches Jen and Anna had chosen from the menu. (Let it be known that Anna has a minor in Spanish, but doesn’t feel comfortable speaking it, so Rebecca, being the take charge gal she is, has stepped up and attempted communication at most opportunities.) At least everyone got the Coke they wanted.

The mine tour was very interesting. We got our own private tour from a guide who sorta spoke English. The mine extracted cinnabar for centuries, well into the 21st century even. We took a claustrophobic elevator down 50 meters into the mine and walked through a bunch of tunnels, including the escape route cut into the side of the city hill. Thank goodness we had helmets on since I think we all hit our head on low hanging rock at least once. (We are too tall to be miners, apparently.) One of the highlights was the rickety old train ride we took to exit the tunnels. The guide seemed to be having a great time speeding along the tracks and tooting the horn. The end of the tour was a museum where we got to push buttons to watch mercury rise and fall in various science experiments.

Mine at the surface level

We found our way the rest of the way to Cordoba through some lovely hilly scenery. Our appointed meeting spot with our apartment landlady was on a street corner, and unfortunately the caretaker was 30 minutes late to meet us due, apparently to some miscommunication between landlady and caretaker. But we finally got into our lodgings and headed out to find a place for dinner. Too tired and hungry to go further than necessary, we ended up at a Chinese restaurant in Spain. But it was pretty tasty! In our wanderings, we saw only a few people (young and old) wandering around in Halloween costumes. The adults were mostly in Day of the Dead-style costumes. We opted not to follow any of them to find a Halloween party to crash.