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GALERA · Routes

Geological Route

This route invites you to see Galera on a different scale: that of geological time.
Geological Route

We will begin beside the Castellón Alto visitor centre and observe how the layers of the hill shaped the construction of the settlement and later made it possible to extract gypsum. From the Mirador de Juan, the valley will help us understand the transformation of an ancient lake landscape. An augmented-reality experience will recreate the lake and allow us to compare it with today’s ravines, slopes and fertile plain.

The seismites preserve another part of that history: deformations caused by earthquakes when the sediments were still soaked with water at the bottom of the lake. The gypsum kiln, in turn, introduces the human use of materials from the surrounding area. Along the route, look for the connections between things that may seem separate: rocks, water, crops and buildings.

The landscape you see is the result of very long processes and successive ways of inhabiting it.

Useful information

Distance
To be defined
Duration
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Difficulty
To be defined

Route map

Route stops

  1. Visitor Centre: the start of the route

    Visitor Centre: the start of the route

    Castellón Alto’s visitor centre is the starting point for linking the history of the settlement with that of the landscape.
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  2. Geology supports the settlement — Mines beneath the Castellón Alto site

    Geology supports the settlement — Mines beneath the Castellón Alto site

    The hill of Castellón Alto tells a story that predates the settlement on its summit.
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  3. The River That Carved the Valley — Mirador del Valle del Río Galera – Mirador de Juan Badlands

    The River That Carved the Valley — Mirador del Valle del Río Galera – Mirador de Juan Badlands

    Look across the valley and try to imagine the landscape without these ravines.
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  4. Earthquakes Preserved in the Landscape — Galera Seismites

    Earthquakes Preserved in the Landscape — Galera Seismites

    These curved, folded forms are traces of ancient earthquakes. To understand them, we must go back to the lake that occupied the basin more than a million years ago.
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  5. Gypsum Kiln of Espejuelos

    Gypsum Kiln of Espejuelos

    This kiln preserves the memory of work that transformed stone from the surrounding landscape into plaster for construction.
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