The century-old pier that lit up a Spanish Silver Age town

In Águilas, Spain, the Embarcadero de El Hornillo holds a unique place in history, a legacy of the town's prosperous past related to 19th and 20th-century silver and lead ore discoveries in Sierra de la Almagrera. Opened in 1903, this pier served the area until the 1960s, when the ports of Cartagena and Alicante took over. Declared as a Bien de Interés Cultural, the pier was initially built as a metal and concrete structure, spanning 178 meters and rising 12 meters high, with a 40-meter metal bridge connecting to Águilas station. Though closed to public access, it still bears the remnants of its mining history, with rusted machinery and cracked concrete.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons