Today we will visit the facades of the Cathedral.
2015/04/29
2015/04/28
Cathedral of Tui. The Arrival.
Welcome to the Cathedral of Tui.
Tui is a municipality which has a population of approximately 17000 inhabitants. It is located south of the Province of Pontevedra beside the River Miño which separates Spain from neighboring Portugal (click here to see Tui in Google Maps).
The Cathedral of Santa María is located in the highest part of the town and it has shaped its appearance as a defensive fortress due to Tui status as a border town in the past. The Cathedral is an important crossing point on the Portuguese Way of Saint James.
2015/04/25
Three Churches in A Insua, a parish of Ponte Caldelas.
Today we are in the municipality of Ponte Caldelas (42.389318, -8.502583), Province of Pontevedra close to the capital. We will visit the parish called A Insua: Parish church of Santa Mariña and the Calvary of Insua, the Chapel of Santa Comba in Rebordelo and also the Chapel of Inmaculada Concepción in Silvoso.
Ponte Caldelas has about 5700 inhabitants. It is a land of rivers (mainly River Verdugo and River Oitavén), mountains and valleys (where the deciduous forest predominates). It is divided into 9 parishes: Anceu, Barbudo, Caritel, Forzáns, A Insua, Ponte Caldelas (the capital of the municipality), Taboadelo, Tourón and Xustáns. A rich religious and civil architectural heritage is combined with areas of outstanding natural beauty in all of them.
Parishes: Civil parishes are very important in Galicia as administrative entities of lower rank to municipalities, it could be said that they are a subdivision of them. In fact, current municipalities were created as groups of parishes. Civil parishes are of ecclesiastical origin.
2015/04/23
Os Alemáns Beach and O Canabal Beach. Ría de Vigo.
We are today in the boundaries of the municipalities of Cangas do Morrazo and Moaña in the Ría de Vigo, Province of Pontevedra and we visit the beaches Os Alemáns (42.259101, -8.763365) and O Canabal (42.262345, -8.759556).
Only 2 kilometres in a straight line separate us from the city of Vigo.
The Parish Church of San Pedro de Bande. Province of Ourense.
Bande is a municipality located to the southwest of the Province of Ourense near the neighbouring Portugal. Click here to see its location: 42.031685, -7.975315
2015/04/21
Hiking. Route of Water Mills in Poio. Ría de Pontevedra.
There are two interesting hiking routes in Poio, based on water mills:
Route of the Mills in A Freixa: The route runs through the environment of the River Cancela. These are old mills that used the force of the water. There are 9 mills, 7 of which have been restored.
Route of the Mills in Samieira: There are 23 mills their state of conservation is different, along the River Freiría.
Way of Saint James. O Cebreiro. Pallozas. Village. Hostel. Cruceiro.
Pallozas are pre-Roman constructions that were adapted by the inhabitants of the area to the harsh weather conditions. They have a round-shaped layout with walls of granite or slate and a single entrance door. They are covered by a thick rye straw roof. Inside there were two or three separate rooms for the inhabitants and the cattle that lived under the same roof in order to benefit from the body temperature of both of them.
Four pallozas are preserved in O Cebreiro of which one is dedicated to Ethnographic Museum recreating what it was everyday life another of them is dedicated to hostel. Pallozas were restored together with the other constructions of the village between the sixties and the seventies of the last century on the initiative of D. Elías Valiña.
This is the palloza which is dedicated to Ethnographic Museum.
2015/04/19
Church of Santa María A Real de O Cebreiro. Part 2
We leave the church to see it in detail from outside.
Click here to view Part 1
2015/04/17
Church of Santa María A Real de O Cebreiro. Part 1
Church of Santa María a Real de O Cebreiro is a jewel of pre-Romanesque art and it dates from the IX century. Baptismal Font of the tenth century, the Crucified Christ in the High Altar, the statue of the Virgin Santa María, named A Real on the right lateral nave, are worth mentioning. The grave of D. Elías Valiña is in the chapel to the left of the presbytery. He was a parish priest in O Cebreiro between 1959 and 1989 and a scholar of the Way of Saint James. We also highlight the chalice, paten and the relics of the Eucharistic miracle are preserved in the chapel located to the left of the presbytery.
2015/04/13
Way of Saint James. O Cebreiro. The Arrival.
We are in Pedrafita do Cebreiro. It is situated inland in the province of Lugo, in northeastern Galicia. Here is where the route of The Way of St. James in Galicia begins.
The municipality has two places that stand out from others which we will also visit: Piedrafita next to highway A6 and also O Cebreiro where pilgrims arrive from the neighbouring Autonomous Community of Castilla-León.
We will visit in O Cebreiro the church of Santa María A Real, the village and the pallozas, Hostel of San Giraldo de Aurillac, a former pilgrim hospital. We will also walk The Way like many pilgrims do from Pedrafita to O Cebreiro by the road LU-633.
2015/04/09
Way of Saint James. Portuguese Way. Tui. Crossing the River Miño. Part 2.
Click here to view Part 1
As already mentioned, here 42.040187, -8.644607 the Way in its current route approaches the river bank from the International Bridge.
2015/04/08
Way of Saint James. Portuguese Way. Tui. Crossing the River Miño. Part 1.
Here we start the route of The Portuguese Way in Galicia. From Tui in the Miño to Santiago de Compostela.
Today we will pay attention to the arrival of pilgrims to Tui, in Galicia, in Spain. We will walk some first steps of The Way and also we will see the riverside promenade of Tui.
Pilgrims enter Galicia/Spain through the International Bridge that links Tui with Portuguese town of Valença do Minho. It was the only way for road traffic until a few years ago. The River Miño was crossed by barge before the construction of the International Bridge.
The bridge deserves that we stop to pay it a visit.
The bridge is seen from the Spanish side of the river. We can see behind the bridge a part of the fortress of Valença do Minho and the two towers of the church.
2015/04/03
Loureza in Oia, Province of Pontevedra. Pools (Pozas) and ducks in River Tamuxe.
Loureza is one of the six parishes belonging to the Municipality of Oia. It is to the south of the Province of Pontevedra. The River Tamuxe crosses Loureza. We will see how the river forms waterfalls and natural pools and it flows placidly only two kilometres downstream.
2015/04/02
The Belesar Reservoir in Portomarín, Province of Lugo.
Portomarín is a small town located in the Province of Lugo. It is of about 1600 inhabitants and it is a major staging post of The Way of St. James. Its history has been linked to The Way but also to the Miño River and to the Roman Bridge that crosses the river.
Life in Portomarín changed when the Belesar Reservoir was built in 1963, with its hydroelectric plant about 30 kilometres downstream. The village in its entirety was flooded and a new village was built in Monte do Cristo. The Romanesque church of San Xoán (San Juan, Saint John), also called church of San Nicolás, was moved to the new village and rebuilt stone by stone the same as the church of San Pedro which was built in the tenth century. An arch of the Roman Bridge also was moved and today it is located at the entrance of Portomarín.
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