Information about stage 28: Stage from Portomarin to Palas de Rei
| STAGE 28 |
KM 25.0 |
TIME 05H 45′ |
Itinerary
- Km 0. Portomarín (All Services)
We go back from the public shelter to the nearby church of San Nicolás and continue straight ahead to exit along Avenida de Chantada, which ends at the same road. Before, you crossed the metal footbridge that crosses the Rego das Torres , but it is closed. Now it is overcome by the road bridge, well signposted. After this, we leave the asphalt to the right, next to some houses, and continue along the slopes of Mount San Antonio (Km 1) . We ascend approximately one kilometer and begin to level out between pine trees and meadows. The road goes down to the shoulder of the LU-633 and after the crossroads to San Mamede and Veladewe took a walkway attached to the road. A few hundred meters further on, at the height of a brick factory (Km 3) , we cross the road and continue along a similar path that goes to the right. At the height of some fertilizer and fertilizer sheds, we cross the LU-633 again and continue to the left. Four hundred and fifty meters later we arrive at Toxibo (Mijón 85.5). A house and, further on, an elegant stone and wood granary, decorated with a rose window and topped with a pinnacle and a cross, is the entire visit (Km 4.8) . Although we still walk very close to the road, several patches of pine trees isolate us from it for a short stretch. Again next to the asphalt we pass a picnic area (Km 7.3) and we go to the nearby parish of Gonzar . The church of Santa María and the population center are on the left.
- Km 8. Gonzar (Shelters. Bar)
We pass next to the bar and the public hostel and shortly we turn left to take a track that goes up to Castromaior , also a parish church of the Portomarín Town Hall with a Romanesque church from the end of the 12th century and a nearby large pre -Roman fort.
- km 9.3. Castromaior (Bar. Pension)
From Castromaior we face a demanding 700-meter climb, where the optional detour to the pre-Roman castro is indicated on the left , from which you can return to the Camino without turning back. We ascend to another path parallel to the LU-633 (Km 10) . We still cross the road a couple of times until we reach Hospital da Cruz , a village in the parish of San Mamede de O Río, also in Portomarín.
- km 11.8. Hospital da Cruz (Hostel. Bar)
We carefully cross the N-540 and take the C-535 towards Ventas. It is a modest road with a compact hard shoulder along which we will travel for the next 10 kilometers to the junction with the N-547 in A Brea. The next town we visit is Ventas de Narón
- km 13.3. Sales of Narón (Hostels. Bar)
At the exit there is a small chapel rehabilitated in 2004. After half a kilometer, gently climbing along the shoulder, we reach milestone 76.5, which announces the Sierra de Ligonde . The Ligonde mountain range divides the basins of the Miño and Ulla rivers (Km 13.8) . Now we enjoy a good downhill section. Kilometer and a half later we leave aside the village of Previsa , the first of the Monterroso Council (Km 15.3) Half a kilometer further down, on the right, is Os Lameiros , with the pazo and the chapel of San Marcos . Two hundred meters away, next to the Camino, stands the famous Lameiros cross . It is double-sided and was placed in 1670. On one side the image of Christ is represented and on the other the Virgin of Sorrows. At the base we can distinguish some tongs, a crown of thorns and a skull, referring to the Calvary of Jesus (Km 16) . We immediately arrive at Ligonde , passing by the cross that marks the site of an old pilgrim’s cemetery . Up to this point the owners of the Nirvana Lodge hostel , inaugurated in the summer of 2013 and located a few kilometers from the Camino in the place of Novelúa, come to pick up the pilgrims (see observations) . Also next to the Casa de Carneiro , which had as illustrious guests Carlos V, in March 1520 when he was traveling to be crowned emperor, and Felipe II, in May 1554 on his way to La Coruña to marry María Tudor.
- km 16.5. Ligonde (Hostels. Bar)
At the exit of Ligonde, next to the municipal hostel, we take a path that goes down next to a wall to the bridge over the Airexe river (Km 17) . We go up to Airexe (Km 17.4). To the left, a little further away, is the church of Santiago , neoclassical in style and with the Romanesque façade of its predecessor.
- km 17.4. Airexe (Hostel. Bar)
We advance along the shoulder and continue straight ahead after crossing the LU-3301 road (Km 18.5) . Later we reach the village of Portos , already in the Palas de Rei Council.
- km 19.4. Portos (Hostel-Bar)
Soon you will find the detour to Vilar de Donas . Later we arrived at the parish of Santiago de Lestedo .
- Km 20. Lestedo (Hostel-Bar. Rural House)
We go up to the village of Os Valos (Km 20.9) to go down to A Mamurria (Km 21.5) . Later comes A Brea (Km 22) , where we leave the paved track – road to travel parallel to the N-547. Next to it are first Avenostre (Km 22.4) and then O Rosario , a place where pilgrims prayed a rosary in front of the view of Monte Sacro . On its slopes, the disciples of the Apostle Santiago tamed the fighting bulls that carried the body of the saint (Km 23.4) . Half a kilometer later we arrive at the Os Chacotes recreational area , where the public hostel of the same name is located (Km 23.9) . A few more meters and we arrive at Palas de Rei . We enter through Rua do Cruceiro, visit the church of San Tirso and go down the steps to the very center of the City Council, where the other hostels are located.
- Km 25. Palas de Rei (All Services)
Difficulties
- 335 meter drop to the top of the Sierra de Ligonde (Km 13.8): It is easily overcome and there is only one demanding slope at the exit of Castromaior. From the Sierra there are several slides – typical in Galicia – to Palas de Rei.
Observations
- Stage very similar to yesterday’s, corridors and rural areas with hostel and restaurant services will accompany us during the stage without much difficulty of continuous up and down.
- At the exit of the village of Portos you can take a detour to the right to visit the interesting monastery of Vilar de Donas, this is 2.5 kilometers out of the way, once there a neighbor has the key and does the work of guide for the visit
- Due to the confusion of some pilgrims, those who have reserved or are going to spend the night in the hostels La Pallota, Casa Domingo, A Bolboreta and Mato Casanova, should know that these accommodations are not physically located in Palas de Rei itself but later, on the route of the next stage towards Arzúa. They are in villages that belong to the Palas de Rei Council and are reflected on the map of stage 29. In Galicia, each Council or municipality has a capital – in this case Palas de Rei – where services and the town hall are concentrated, and each Council is made up of a multitude of villages, called lugares or rueiros which, depending on the size of the municipality, can be many kilometers away from that capital.
What to see, what to do
- GONZAR: Santa María de Gonzar is one of the 20 parishes of the Portomarín Council. Gonzar was a commendation of the Knights of San Juan de Portomarín and the parish of Santa María is its most important monument. Higher up, in Castromaior , we find ourselves in an area of Celtic fortifications that can give us an image of what Galicia was like before it was conquered by the Romans. In this parish is the small church of Santa María , in a simple and rough Romanesque style but very well preserved. Inside, there is a Romanesque carving of the Virgin and a 16th century altarpiece. In Gonzar there are a couple of bars, one at the foot of the road and another inside that is also a hostel. Castromaior also has a bar.
- VENTAS DE NARÓN: Ventas de Narón was a stop on the road before crossing the Sierra de Ligonde and a place of commercial transactions. At the exit of the town is the Chapel of the Magdalena , which may be an indication of the existence of an old hospital serving pilgrims. It is believed that in this place the Christians, after discovering the tomb of the Apostle in Santiago, defeated the Emir of Córdoba in his attempt to conquer Galicia. Here Benito Viceto located the beginning of his historical novel Los Hidalgos de Monforte , when a group of knights gather to prepare the attack against the Count of Lemos.
- LIGONDE: Ligonde is one of the 29 parishes of the Concello de Monterroso and encompasses 12 villages or entities. In the past, it was also an important Jacobean station where a pilgrim’s cemetery is still preserved, attached to a former Hospital of the Order of Santiago. The decoration of its facades draws attention. It was donated in 956 by Count Osorio to his wife Teoduli Pepiz to redeem his sins. Its neoclassical church of Santiago preserves the Romanesque façade of its predecessor. Just before entering Ligonde is the crossroads of Lameiros(1670), where the four sides of the base represent Calvary or the death of Jesus (hammer, nails, thorns and skulls), while on the cross the relief of motherhood or life is astonishing. It has a municipal hostel and the bars and the public hostel are located in the immediate center of Airexe.
- VILAR DE DONAS MONASTERY: Between Portos and Lestedo (between kilometers 19.4 and 20 of the stage) is the detour to Vilar de Donas, a parish of the Palas de Rei Council where the most valuable of the more than twenty small Romanesque churches in the municipality of Palas de Rei: the church of El Salvador with a doorway of great beauty and archivolts of great iconographic wealth. The detour is about 2.5 kilometers one way and as many back. If we make the pilgrimage by bike, there is no problem since on the way back you can take the N-547 and connect with the Camino in A Brea.
- PALAS DE REI: The history of Palas de Rei goes back to ancient times, and even more so taking into account the number of Celtic fortifications existing in its municipal area and its location on the Lugo-Astorga Roman road. It was an important place in the Middle Ages where pilgrims used to gather to face the last stretches of the Jacobean route. The church of San Tirso , more specifically, its Romanesque façade, is the only remaining vestige of its historical past. However, the artistic wealth of its Council is considerable: twenty Romanesque churches such as Vilar de Donas, the castle of Pambre and the literary and television Pazo de Ulloa. Palas de Rei has multiple possibilities of provisioning and enjoyment for the pilgrim.