Discovering Spain: My hometown Puertollano

Hi Everyone! I wanna tell about my hometown, PUERTOLLANO.

Puertollano, is an industrial city in province of Ciudad Real, Castile-La Mancha.

Remember! Spain is divided into regions, and Castilla La Mancha is one of them. I live in the province of Ciudad Real.

This is the situation of Puertollano in Ciudad Real region

My hometown is the largest industrial center in the Castilla-La Mancha region. We have many coal mining, our industries are petrochemicals (REPSOL), fertilisers (Fertiberia), power generation and, most recently, the manufacture of solar panels.

This is the Solar park in Puertollano. This plant was developed by the company Renovalia. It has a capacity of 50MW to supply electricity to about 39,000 homes and preventing emanate 84.000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.

The name of Puertollano is a concatenation of "puerto" (pass) and "llano" (flat). It is often said that "Puertollano is the town of two lies" ("Puertollano es el pueblo de las dos mentiras"), because of the polysemy of the spanish word "puerto", which means both "pass" and "port". People often say that Puertollano doesn't have a port neither it is flat. It is partly built on the slopes of surrounding mountains.

Well.. I'll show you the most representative places of my city...

Paseo de San gregorio. This magnificant park was ordered to be built by General Narváez to serve as a distraction to those who were bathing in the sour water spa in the Casa de Baños. In the time in which is was built it became the most important green zone in the province of Ciudad Real. Here you could find plant species brought here from all over world thanks to the collaboration of Queen Isabel II, who helped with the grandeur of the garden.

Also in this area is the Casa de Baños, next to the 'Fuente Agria'. This is one of the most emblematic buildings in Puertollano, dating back to 1850. The Casa de Baños was an old spa which supplied water which came from the Fuente Agria. This spa was also ordered to be built by General Narvaéz, who was interested in ferruginous water due to its curing properties that it had with skin, stomach and kidney conditions. The Casa de Baños is now the Tourist Office, as well as being the local services Office. Inside we can visit the individual baths, as well as the collective ones which are still in perfect condition.

The 'fuente de Agria' or the sour fountain. Was date in 1575, and is situated just 20 metres from the Casa de Baños. In the past it was a lagoon with red water where those who were ill or simply the local people went to bathed. Once the properties of the water were studied by Doctor Limón, it was given the importance that it has today. They took samples of the water to international expositions, which won various prizes. The small lake then became channeled through the construction of a shrine which then in 1905 suffered a reformation and became what we can observe today. Originally it was hexagonal and now is octagonal with 9 sets of stairs. We can also see the face of Doctor Limón, who born in Puertollano.

This church was built during the Fifteenth Century, in gratitude of the Virgen Our Lady of Grace for having protected the town from the plague which reduced the population of Puertollano in the Fourteenth Century to just 13 families. This is the place where nowadays the Santo Voto is celebrated, which is a party connected with Regional Touristic Interest.
Our Lady of Grace is the patron saint of Puertollano

'El minero'. Situated on Santa Ana hill, next to the ring road and one of the highest points of the town, and from which we can enjoy a perfect view of the whole of the town, we can see part of the Valle de Alcudia nearby. This large monument, called 'El Minero', The Miner, made of bronze and weighing 14 tonnes is a work by José Noja and according to him, he wanted to transmit the hard way of life that all the miners had who worked in the mine. If we look closely at the monument we can see a hole where the heart would be, which according to the scupltor, "represents the heart and feelings of the town of Puertollano."

If you wanna see an aerial view of my city, check out the video.