Every summer the resilient population of the Costa Brava prepares for an incoming invasion. Who's gonna be first to conquer these beaches: the sun-burnt Germans, the drunken Brits, the posh Russians?
Almost 90 years ago, as the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was raging on, the fear of invasion was far more serious. The country was split between Fascists and Republicans, with this area of Catalonia being under Republican control. Fearing an attack from the sea, the Republican authorities ordered the construction of a series of bunkers and machine-gun nests on the cliffs near the sea.
Not gonna make a history lesson on the Civil War but it's important to notice that both sides had economical difficulties to move on with the war effort, so military constructions in Spain are often quite small, rudimentary and simple.
About the explore, I'm not so familiar with the coast since I'm a mountain guy, but my newfound partner lives there and when she told me she had some holes to explore... who could say no to that?
This is the kind of hole we're talking about, you dirty little ones! Okay, back to serious underground-geek mode: That's inside the pillbox, with all the trash and graffitti it looked a bit shitty, but once we got properly underground, things got a little better, and so did the pics:
After this first stoopy passage the place opened up to a little room, then followed by a higher corridor with a reinforced wall.
There isn't a pic of the corridor in which her head isn't poking through, but I find it interesting that they reinforced this part that's actually made of harder stone, while they left the sandstone walls bare.
Still, the tunnels were surprisingly good condition for being almost 90 years old.
We followed the whole length of the tunnel and emerged at a second pillbox:
Didn't manage to take good pics of the inside, so we headed outside through this corridor (escape hatch maybe?)
From oustide, this second pillbox looked a little better than the first one we found, which was a nice touch to finish the explore.
A last, more personal note: even though military infrastructure in Spain is not as impressive as in the rest of Europe, this one made me particularly happy because it was my first bunker ever!
See you on the next one!
Almost 90 years ago, as the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) was raging on, the fear of invasion was far more serious. The country was split between Fascists and Republicans, with this area of Catalonia being under Republican control. Fearing an attack from the sea, the Republican authorities ordered the construction of a series of bunkers and machine-gun nests on the cliffs near the sea.
Not gonna make a history lesson on the Civil War but it's important to notice that both sides had economical difficulties to move on with the war effort, so military constructions in Spain are often quite small, rudimentary and simple.
About the explore, I'm not so familiar with the coast since I'm a mountain guy, but my newfound partner lives there and when she told me she had some holes to explore... who could say no to that?
This is the kind of hole we're talking about, you dirty little ones! Okay, back to serious underground-geek mode: That's inside the pillbox, with all the trash and graffitti it looked a bit shitty, but once we got properly underground, things got a little better, and so did the pics:
After this first stoopy passage the place opened up to a little room, then followed by a higher corridor with a reinforced wall.
There isn't a pic of the corridor in which her head isn't poking through, but I find it interesting that they reinforced this part that's actually made of harder stone, while they left the sandstone walls bare.
Still, the tunnels were surprisingly good condition for being almost 90 years old.
We followed the whole length of the tunnel and emerged at a second pillbox:
Didn't manage to take good pics of the inside, so we headed outside through this corridor (escape hatch maybe?)
From oustide, this second pillbox looked a little better than the first one we found, which was a nice touch to finish the explore.
A last, more personal note: even though military infrastructure in Spain is not as impressive as in the rest of Europe, this one made me particularly happy because it was my first bunker ever!
See you on the next one!
