Exactly two years ago, whilst walking along the Rio Grande near our weekend place, in the Sierra de las Nieves natural park, we discovered an abandoned turn of the century hydro electric power station, ‘San Eugenio’. You can see the photos here.
Well, today I revisited the place and went further. It was fascinating, as I followed the original water channels that fed the power station from the abundance of water from the Rio Grande. These channels, a century on are still full of crystal clear mountain water.
About a kilometre from the original station is newer one, dating back to 1932, ‘San Augusto’. It’s still operational, and what’s extraordinary is that, through the windows, one can still see inside the original turbines, from the then pioneering German engineering firm ‘J. M. Voith’ based in Heidenheim. The tool kits are still mounted on the walls.
Outside remnants of the old sluice gates and channels remain, but are no longer used as water is brought down from the mountains in huge modern pipes.
I also checked out a small house, located at the entrance, at km 45 on the A366.
The house is also abandoned – it must have been for the manager. It’s such a shame that these houses are not renovated, here period properties are not popular, but for me they have so much more charm and character and are filled with interesting design and architectural features.
I went on to visit La Fuensanta, north of Yunquera. Here is a really old water mill, easily a couple of hundred years old. I will do a blog entry on that another day. On the way back I caught the sunset over Alozaina.
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