The best road cycling routes around Montes Sur

The Almadén Mining Park (Ciudad Real, Spain) is the largest mercury deposit in the world, declared a [UNESCO](0.5.4, 0.5.5) World Heritage Site. It offers an underground journey into mining history, starting from Roman times up to 2003, the year the activity closed.

A hexagonal shape, unique in the world. A complex of 24 two-story houses surrounds the bullring, forming a single block. Built between 1752 and 1765 at the initiative of Superintendent Francisco Javier de Villegas. Purpose: to provide employment for miners during forced work stoppages and to raise funds for the Royal Miners' Hospital of San Rafael through bullfights and the rental of houses. First bullfights: October 1752, with 21 bulls fought. Declared a Site of Cultural Interest in 1979 and a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2012 as part of the "Mercury Heritage: Almadén and Idrija."

It is a tribute to the miners who worked in the Almadén mercury mines, protagonists of more than 2,000 years of mining history. The idea arose in 1953, but it did not materialize until 1996, thanks to a public subscription and institutional contributions. It was inaugurated on September 8, 1996, coinciding with the feast day of Our Lady of the Mines.

Today it houses the Mining Museum and the Historical Archive of the Almadén Mines, with documents dating back to the 17th century. The visit includes: Room 1: History of the hospital and its role in occupational health. Room 2: The mercury metallurgy process and its technological evolution. Room 3: Life and customs of the region. Audiovisual displays, dioramas, and panels on diseases such as hydrargyrism and innovative treatments (the sauna-box, "the beach"). Dungeons where sick prisoners were treated. Exhibition of mining tools, machinery, and artifacts.

In the Alcudia Valley lies Almadén, a town linked to mining since ancient times, dyed with the reddish cinnabar of its cave paintings. The Romans opened up this land to extract the precious metal coveted in the empire as a dye, cosmetic or ointment. Since those times and despite the vagaries of exploitation or demand, Almadén has produced a third of the mercury consumed by humanity. The Almadén Mining Park offers us a trip to the interior of one of the oldest mines in the world. The park is completed with museums, interpretation centres and interesting displays of industrial archaeology. The Old School of Mine Foremen, created in the 18th century for the Study of Subterranean Geometry and Mineralogy. The House of the Superintendence located next to the mine allowed for greater control of it, of Baroque style only the enclosure remains. The San Rafael Miners' Hospital houses the historical archive of the Almadén Mines.

There are excellent views from Camping El Mirador de Cabañeros and a good place to rest and eat.

Municipality located in the valley of the Tierteafuera river. In the middle of the Guadiana basin, framed and partially divided by the Grande and Chico streams, two kilometers from the course of the Guadiana River. There is evidence of habitation in this area since pre-Roman times, as demonstrated by the presence of several castles, such as the Castle or Castilnegro, and even a motilla found in the 1970s and located at the exit of the town. .

In the western part of the province and the historic Campo de Calatrava, between the Canalizos and San Antón mountain ranges and the Guadiana valley, with very rugged relief and evocative landscapes, is the pleasant town of Luciana. It houses the mouths of two tributaries of the Guadiana River: the Bullaque in the northeast, very close to the town, and the Tirteafuera in the southwest, in Tablacaldera. Water, always very present, gives uniqueness and beauty to the environment.