Location: Sad Hill - Entrance to the Cemetery

Roughly a 500 mile drive north of Almeria, is Burgos, and it is within this area Sergio Leone filmed much of the last half of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.  The locations included the prisoner war camp, the battle of Langstone Bridge, and of course Sad Hill Cemetery.

While sadly I did not get to the prisoner war camp or Langstone Bridge locations (although I probably drove by them), my main objective was to get to Sad Hill, the fictitious cemetery which is the location of the gold and center of the final shootout.

As this is such an important location, this will be a multipart series.

There are a few ways to get the Sad Hill.  My first attempt via my GPS was not successful as I did not an all terrain vehicle on the trip!  After doubling back and getting lost in Conterras, I found my way there by just using satellite images.

Once leaving Conterras and taking the dirt rode to the location I came across the remains of the cart below.  Possibly something left over from filming? 

cart on the road to Sad Hill

Once arriving (finally!) at the location, the site is marked by two signs.  One that marks the entrance to the location of Sad Hill (put up by Tuco Tours I believe), and a cement sculpture of Clint near the base.  No LVC sculpture, but at least he is mentioned on the sign!

 

 

 

Once parked I could see the road I just traveled on was the same path that Blondie and Tuco arrived at Sad Hill on.

1966 and 2013

 

Before we go in, let's take a look at Sad Hill from above.  Below are a few pics of Sad Hill from the road above.  While the grave markers are all long gone, the mounds have grown over with a reddish brush, which makes the original circular shape of the cemetery unmistakable. 

Click to enlarge.

Sad Hill from space!

 

Next week, The Ecstasy of Gold!