Abandoned marble quarry

I mean...why not visit one given the chance? Besides I don't need too much of motivation to do so hence...here I am.

Not the best day for pictures with all these clouds but we can't have it all. Still a very mild winter so far. My target is located here and here's a couple of pictures to get an idea of the surroundings before I focus on it:

As you saw it's a gravel route which due to the last rainfall it was pretty muddy but made it despite my street tires - it wasn't Dakar difficult by no means.

I didn't find info about when this quarry stopped working but judging by the looks I make a guess sometime during the 80s the latest:

I find lots of the black stuff you can find around the silver mines of this area:

Not sure there was such activity here in parallel with marble digging as I can't find any info online about it.

This thing wouldn't win at any architecture's competition but looks were not a priority anyway - functionality was instead:

You can still find pieces around indicating the marble past of the site:

I attempt to climb up and get more viewing angles:

That thing is covered in that black gravel, wish I knew how come - gotta investigate more:

The background is definitely more colourful thanks to the best artist known as nature:

The local farmers help with their green too:

That small building I find nearby has not much interest:

I attempt to go closer to the spot where the marble came out of the mountain but the local sheep dogs didn't quit agree with my plans so I jump back to my bike and promise to come back with my car so I have more shelter just in case.

Yep, it was a muddy way back and definitely not the best tires for such terrain (they do wonders on tarmac though):

Here I am another day back at it again and time to picture the rest of what's left from that infrastructure:

I assume that the left side of that thing was where the trucks could park underneath and load the stuff that was stored above. Most ports are still on the ceiling rusty AF:

The combination of stone and concrete shows that the site is rather old and got some add ons later (during the 60s maybe):

Rust never sleeps, iron gets oxidised and breaks the concrete as it expands:

Time to focus on that weird cylindrical(ish) concrete silo (I guess):

I can't get a better view of that rusty door under it:

Let's see it from another angle:

Funny how it looks like a weirdly shaped old wood barrel.

Next to it is one more building:

I think that this was the check point where they might also weighted the trucks before loading.

It's bare and empty now:

Wanna see that "barrel" again from more angles? Be my guest:

Now that I have climbed up I attempt a couple of shots of the quarry at sheep dog safety distance:

I am attracted to walk up back to that barrel and the more I approach it the more "We're on a road to nowhere" plays in my head:

The view of the site from the top is looking even more like a war zone:

Just in case you missed that boulder on top of it:

Looking South East from the top the view gets better:

As I make my way down I take a couple more before I kiss that thing goodbye:

How long will this thing be still standing?

No idea but a good earthquake might answer it.

Time to make my muddy way back home:

Hope you liked it, I have more stuff in the pipeline.

See you in the next ones!