Most visitors to La Manga on the Costa Calida don't bother to cross over the hills and visit the small coastal village of Portman but this place was once, literally a treasure house.
For it was here that much of the silver and lead that brought the Phoenicians and Romans to the area was found. Today Portman is quiet and peaceful but it was only a few decades ago that the mines were in full production.
The coastal cliffs that surround the bay are part of a national park and extensive planting of trees has softened the scars of the mines. Many of the old buildings are important industrial archaeology relics and are protected. Many rare botanical plants flourish in these hills and masses of birds make Portman a stopping place on their migration routes.
The name Portman sounds vaguely English but it is, in fact, derived from the Latin for "major port". Some 40,000 slaves are said to have laboured in the hills behind the town during Roman times with hundreds of pounds of silver a day coming out of the mines. For the next 2,000 years the mines continued in operation, with production coming to a halt only 30 to 40 years ago.
(Extract from an article in Round Town News October 2003)
  
Calle Major (main street) Playa Lastré Portman lighthouse (Faro)
On the outskirts of the village is Calblanque Regional Park which is located in the south eastern area of the region of Murcia, and includes approximately a third of the mountainous bowl that encircles Portman. The park is divided into three areas: Calblanque with its beautiful unspoilt beaches, Monte de las Cenizas (Mount of Ashes) including the Faro de Portman (lighthouse) and the La Chappa Artillery site (adjoining the lighthouse) and Peña del Águila (Rock of the Eagle).
Calblanque Regional Park  | 
