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LOCATION Puente Viesgo.
CONDITIONS OF THE VISITS
The visit possesses a guides' service and lasts 45 minutes. Maximum is realized by groups of 13 persons from 15th June to 14th September and of 15 persons maximum from 15th September to 14th June.
TIMETABLE
The cave is close on January 1st and 6th and December 24th, 25th and 31th.
- From 1st November to 28th February of 9:30 a.m. to 15:30 p.m. (last visit 14:40 p.m.). Monday and Tuesday is closed.
- From 1st March to 14th June and from 15th September to 31th October of 9:30 a.m. to 14:30 p.m. (last visit 13:40 p.m.) and of 15:30 p.m. to 18:30 p.m. (last visit 17:40 p.m.). Monday and Tuesday is closed.
- From 15th June to 14th September of 9:30 a.m. to 14:30 p.m. (last visit 13:40 p.m.) and of 15:30 p.m. to 19:30 p.m. (last visit 18:40 p.m.). Monday is closed.
RATES
Normal: 3 € (major of 12 years)
Reduced: 1, 5 € (from 4 to 12 years, both inclusive)
Free: from 0 to 3 years (both inclusive)
FACILITIES
The centre has the following facilities available:
- Visitor service point
- Car park for cars and coaches
- Guided visit
- Interpretation centre
- Snack bar
- Toilets
ACCESS
Access by vehicle: from the centre of the Puente Viesgo municipal district, next to the car park, take the Monte El Castillo road. After about 1.4 km., you come to a car park. From there access is on foot to the Interpretation Centre and to the caves.
Access on foot: from the centre of the Puente Viesgo municipal district, next to the car park, take the PR-S17 footpath. After a 25 minute walk, you reach the Interpretation Centre and the caves.
DESCRIPTION
On the banks of the Pas River, on its way through Puente Viesgo, Monte El Castillo rises up, a cone-shaped limestone hill, which hides inside an intricate labyrinth of caves frequented by man in Prehistory.
About 675 metres away from the well-known cave of El Castillo, following the path skirting the hill, lies the Las Monedas cave, the longest in Monte El Castillo.
At the time of the discovery, in 1952, it was named the Bear Cave. Shortly after, several boot marks with three nails in the heel were observed. Following the marks led to a lot of 20 coins from the days of the Catholic Monarchs, one being resealed in 1563, in a 23 meters deep sinkhole. These coins that had either been lost or hidden in the cave by an anonymous visitor in the 16th century, gave the grotto its name.
Out of the 800 meters forming the cave, some 160 meters are visited. The route houses a genuine sight: stalactites, stalagmites, discs, columns, hanging terraces and blasts of color, due to the varied mineralogical composition of the rock, marking out a geological passageway. The dissolution processes of calcite and sedimentation and casting make the visit to the cave nothing but a gift, bristling with beauty and color to the sight.
Unlike the El Castillo cave, the figurative cave wall artistic expressions are concentrated in a small side grotto, just a few meters away from the entrance area. The highly homogenous group, from a technical point of view (black stenciled drawing) and style pointing to a unique phase of execution, comprises at least 17 animal figures and diverse forms of signs or sets of lines that are difficult to interpret. Especially horses and, to a lesser extent, reindeer, goats, bison, a bear and a few undetermined animals, make up a varied bestiary corresponding to a cold climatic phase. Dating by C14 AMS sets the execution of the figures during a glacial phase occurring some 10,000 B.C.
BOOKINGS
| Telephone: (+34) 942 59 84 25. |
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© Consejería de Cultura, Turismo y Deporte. Gobierno de Cantabria | Private Zone | Telephone +34 942 59 84 25 | Fax +34 942 59 83 05 |
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