Torre Del Bierzo – Petroglyphs, Mining and Pilgrimage Routes

The Senda de los Petroglifos is approximately 4 kilometres long; along it, you can see the petroglyphs of Las Abarrazas and Peña del Trigo. The Senda de los Fósiles is an approximately 5-kilometre circular route and leads to the Mina Boisán palaeontological site.

For personal planning, route length and route type can be considered side by side.

Nature

The Ruta del Castro Las Torcas leads to an ancient pre-Roman settlement on a rocky promontory. The San Facundo–Pozo Las Hoyas–Poibueno–Matavenero hiking trail runs through the deeply incised valley of the Río Rial. The Senderismo de Sofreo–San Andrés de las Puentes route is organised by the Junta Vecinal of San Andrés de las Puentes.

Culture

The Fundación Cultura Minera is located on the main road of Torre Del Bierzo, along the route of the former N-VI national road, in a building with a ground floor and three upper floors. It is open for visits from Tuesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; on Fridays and Saturdays, it is additionally open from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., while it remains closed on Mondays.

The permanent exhibition of the Fundación Cultura Minera traces the history of coal, beginning with fossils and the classification of coal by grain size. A special section is dedicated to the community from Cape Verde, whose first settlement in Torre Del Bierzo was established. The Museo de la Minería is located in the town hall on the Plaza Mayor of Torre del Bierzo.

Routes

The Vía Künig is a pilgrimage route documented between 1488 and 1490 by the German monk Hermann Künig; it is also an open-air museum that conveys history and landscapes. The Camino del Manzanal passes through Torre Del Bierzo into the Bierzo region and continues via Bembibre and Congosto towards Ponferrada.

The Camino del Manzanal follows historic routes used by the Romans and, in the Middle Ages, by monks. It is a pilgrimage route of spiritual, heritage-preservation and tourist significance.

Further places: Villaseca De Laciana, Soto Y Amío, Villanueva del Condado, Oseja De Sajambre, Torre de Babia, Naredo de Fenar, Santa María Del Páramo and Aralla de Luna.

History

The Puente Romano over the Río Tremor dates from the 1st century AD. It was built as part of the Via Nova, also known as the Geira or Via XVIII of the Itinerarium Antonini.

The mining settlement of Albares de la Granja was built in the 1950s with a railway halt, a company shop, a school, a tavern and a cinema hall.

A holiday apartment in Torre Del Bierzo can be compared based on travel dates, room category and cancellation conditions. This keeps the accommodation decision within your own parameters, while routes, museums and historical evidence open up different focal points for travel planning. In this way, those interested can determine for themselves the desired balance of landscape, archaeology, mining culture and pilgrimage history.

For the higher-level travel overview: León.