A lofty opening, resembling a great gate, forms the entrance to these rocky passages.

Overgrown with ivy, it has rather the appearance of a bower than of a place of terror and anguish.

Several of these side halls are now used as workshops by rope-makers, while in others the manufacture of saltpetre is carried on.

The region around is rocky, but without displaying any high mountains.

I saw numerous grottoes, some of them with magnificent entrances, which looked as though they had been cut in the rocks by art.