European Adventure 2022 Spain

Pontevedra, Galicia

By on Sunday, November 13, 2022

We designed our trip with the idea of staying in one place for a month in order to de-compress following a busy and dynamic initial six weeks of travel. We also wanted to pursue some personal and professional goals in tandem with our travels and decided homesteading would help achieve those goals.

We chose Pontevedra, Galicia mainly because Lyn read an article online about how the entire city center had been turned into a pedestrian only area. Pontevedra also appealed to us because it is often the beaten path of tourist destinations and because of the Goldilocks factor (not too big; not too small; but just right).

In explaining to our families where we would be staying, I referred to Pontevedra as “the Portland of Spain” based mostly on its relative geographic location in the northwest. This proved accurate in terms of climate as well because Pontevedra has a relatively wet climate in October-November. We anticipated rainy weather but we did not expect our arrival to coincide with 12 straight days of precipitation. In hindsight, and in looking back at the photos, it did not rain steadily for 12 days but it did rain every day for some period of time, mainly because an Atlantic weather system parked off the coast and was generating bands of wetness across the entire western portion of the Iberian peninsula. We saw one warning that said to expect 700mm of rain during our first five days, which is three times the monthly average rainfall. We had some heavy downpours during that time but I don’t think the final accumulation was as severe as the forecast predicted.

We watched the weather radar to time our outings and were mostly successful at not getting caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Mostly.

On the day we arrived by train from Ourense, we walked the 2 km (1 mile) in a heavy rain. We had our rain coats on buy we had not yet bought umbrellas. Our luggage ended up getting wetter than we did. Fortunately, our Air BnB is spacious and cozy so everything dried out in short order.

We wanted to get a sense of life here in northwest Spain, but there’s really no substitute for having friends like José and Maria to explain the texture and nuance of the social fabric and history of the area.

Pontevedra History in One Paragraph

Pontevedra is an old city, dating back to the Roman conquest of Iberia. Pontevedra is generally believed to mean “old bridge” and evolved from the Latin “pontem veteram”. In Roman times, this was the only bridge across the Lérez River, making it strategically important. Today, Pontevedra has a medieval vintage pedestrian bridge in the same location as the original Roman bridge. Additionally, the city’s harbor was sufficiently deep for seagoing ships making Pontevedra both a land and sea hub of commerce. Pontevedra’s fortunes peaked in the 1500s and it was the #2 city in Galicia after Santiago de Compostela. Nothing stays good forever, though. The river silted up and the harbor became unusable for global trade causing a decline in the city’s economy. In the 1600-1700s, a combination of disease, political strife, and war caused additional de-population (like 50%) and economic decline. The city began to make a comeback in the late 1800s and then ended up on the wrong side of the Spanish Civil War (a hotbed of Galician Nationalists). Under Francisco Franco, the neighboring city of Vigo was the “favored” child for economic development, to the detriment of Pontevedra as both an economic center and as a provincial capital. In the last 40 years, Pontevedra has had something of a renaissance with education, government, culture, urban development, and tourism. Among the city’s notable developments is the pedestrianisation of the City Center, which has won several awards for urban mobility and sustainability.

Click here to learn more about Pontevedra

Hórreos and Cruceiros

We did not rent a car and made a point of taking a good walk each day as the weather permitted. Pontevedra is at the mouth of the Lérez River and we discovered good walking trails in both directions on both side of the river, giving us four arteries for getting outside the city with minimal traffic congestion.

Two things jump out as recurring themes in the Galician landscape. The first is the hórreo, which is a an elevated stone structure for storing grain that, to an American, looks like a giant dog house on stilts. In the rural areas, and even in the older neighborhoods on the edge of the city center, almost every home has a hórreo in the yard. The traditional purpose of these structures was to store grain. The elevation off the ground is to keep the grain secure from rodents and moisture. The designs vary from simple to elaborate but the form is essentially the same and the hórreo seems to be something of a status symbol and a part of the Galician identity. In the age of mass production and grocery stores, hórreos have long outlasted their purpose but you see them everywhere and they are very well maintained.

The other structure you see in each neighborhood is a Galician Cruceiro, which is a religious stone cross on a square pedestal. Like the hórreos, the cruceiros are all very similar but no two are exactly alike.

Click here to learn more about Galician hórreos.

Click here to learn more about Galician cruceiros

This hórreo was exceptional for its size.
Most of the Hórreos we saw were made of stone, like the one on the left. Galicia has a lot of stone construction which, at times, made it feel like Ireland or northern England. The rain and associated moss contributed to the mood as well.
These five cruceiros are all within a few hundred meters of our apartment in the historic center of Pontevedra.

Our walks along the river

Galicia designs its architecture for bad weather. This bridge over the Lérez has a covered pedestrian walkway.
Where the Lérez empties into Ria Pontevedra (ria = bay).
According to Olympiandatabase.com, Canoe & Kayaking is Spain’s second most competitive sport after Sailing. We believe it based on how much activity we saw on the water. Cycling is #3.
This is the “pontem veteram” with the bridge site dating from the bridge itself dating from the middle ages. The first photo above highlights the iconic scallop shells on the side of the bridge which pilgrims cross on their way from Portugal to Santiago de Compostela. The second photo is a glass window explaining the excavation site of the medieval and Roman ruins.
As the bands of weather rolled in, we had some notable contrasts of sunlight with dark clouds in the sky.
Climbing vines in bloom along the roadside
Pontevedra has a tidal range of nearly 3m (8 feet). Just like Virginia Beach, a combination of high tide and an onsetting wind can get a little uncomfortable.
This was the footpath along on the busy side of the river. We never had to share it with a tractor or a horse and wagon, but we did see a lot of bicyclists. Pontevedra is a pedestrian friendly place.
Totally random but on one of our walks we saw this bird house, which appears to be occupied by a very small and angry looking man.
We have seen tons of dogs in Spain out walking with their owners, which always reminds of of Murdock. We passed this house and it made us think of Percy. We miss our pets.
Railroad bridge over the Lérez river on the left and Pontevedra in the background.

Pontevedra’s Historic Center

The “El Camino” pilgrimage route is not a single path but rather a network of paths, leading to Santiago de Compostela. Even when we visited Benidorm on the central east coast of Spain, we saw signposts marking the El Camino route. The El Camino is like a circulatory system with major arteries. Thus, many people misperceive the major east-west route across northern Spain as a singular route. Pontevedra lies on a north-south artery for pilgrims making the journey from Portugal. Again, the original medieval bridge was once the only crossing point at the Lérez River. As a result, you see evidence everywhere of Pontevedra’s role as a resting point for pilgrims. Most notably, the El Camino signposts mark the path right through the center of Pontevedra’s historic center. Pontevedra also has a large number of hostals for pilgrims. Finally, you see the walkers themselves with their hiking boots and backpacks passing through at all times of the day. El Camino has been a pilgrimage route since the 9th century and is definitely still a thing today.

Church of Santa María la Mayor de Pontevedra dating to the 1500s. This church is a block away from the apartment where we are staying. At the top of the façade, you can see scallop shells, which is one of the main symbols of the “El Camino” pilgrimage route. While looking at the façade, a nice guy approached us and gave us a terrific explanation of all the imagery on the church. He was speaking Spanish so Lyn got 90% of it and I got 43%. One thing I understood though was that the entire façade is symmetric with the exception of the figure kneeling (I think he said St. Thomas) on the lower left side of the rose window. It is one of those details you don’t see unless you spend a long, long time staring at it. He also told us two of the faces carved in stone on the façade are those of Christopher Columbus and Hernán Cortés (at 3 O’clock and 9 O’clock just outside the rose window); this led into a 20 minute theory about how Christopher Columbus was the bastard son of a Galician noble and that he was raised right across the river from Pontevedra. The Galicians are quite convinced of this and can cite all kinds of evidence based on Christopher Columbus writing in Gallego (Galician language), giving places in the new world Galician namesakes, and being buried in proximity to his biological family from Galicia. From what I could tell (which isn’t a whole lot given my Spanish comprehension), this guy knew his history. He even showed us inside the church where the word “Co lon” was carved in the wall of the church and explained his family name was once spelled with a double l, but that word also means testicle in Gallego so one of the two l’s was removed. I hope by recounting this conversation I am not contributing to historical misinformation and conspiracy theories, but we saw again and again that Christopher Columbus is regarded as a hometown hero.
Pontevedra has 1,500 years of ups and downs under its belt. Hard to say if a Burger King on the El Camino route and in the heart of the historic district is a symbol of an up or a down? The bust on the statue in front of the Burger King is Alexandre Boveda (more on him in a moment). In the second photo, we got a kick out of the bar called “Dr. Livingston Supongo?” I presume this is a fun way to expand our Spanish vocabulary.
This sculpture honors a group of intellectuals and leaders who would meet in the Cafe Moderno in the 1920s-30s. The violinist is a man named Manuel Quiroga who was a famous Pontevedra-born musician in his day. Sadly, his music career was cut short after he was hit by a truck in Times Square, New York City in 1937. The men seated around him each have their own story as well. One of them is Alexandre Boveda (from the Burger King sculpture). Boveda was a school teacher who became a politician and a leading intellectual of the Galician Nationalist movement in the 1930s. He was originally from Ourense but came to Pontevedra where the Galician nationalist movement was focused. In 1936, at the age of 33, he was executed by the Spanish nationalists during the Spanish Civil War. In the words of a wise man “civil wars are a complicated thing”. By Galician standards, Alexandre Boveda is a hero. By Spanish nationalist standards, he was a traitor. The sculptures of him portray a human who was standing up for what he believed in the company of friends. This sculpture is not unlike a monument to Confederate generals in the southern U.S., although it has the notable advantage that the issue of slavery is not clouding its moral interpretation.

Click here to learn more about the Tertulia Monument. Click here to learn more about Alexandre Boveda.

It’s a fine line between a pilgrim walking El Camino and a tourist. Where you have people, you have commerce so it should be no surprise to see a pilgrim-shaped machine for smashing coins into souvenir pieces with engraved image.

And in the spirit of “round metal discs”, as a native of northeast Wisconsin, I’m always on the lookout for manhole covers from Neenah Foundry (you wouldn’t believe some of the places I’ve seen them). In the second photo, the manhole cover is not a product of Wisconsin manufacturing but I was nonetheless impressed with the creative embellishment.
This is the Iglesia de la Virgen Peregrina (Church of the Virgin Pilgrim) in the heart of Pontevedra. Built in the late 1700s, it takes the scallop theme to a new level with the floor plan and architecture of the entire church resembling a scallop shape (looking top down). This chruch has become an iconic symbol of Pontevedra and lies on the El Camino route. It is named in honor of pilgrims from the town of Baiona (in the extreme southwest corner of Galicia) who were guided to Santiago de Compostela by the Virgin Mary. The second photo is a very small one-room street side chapel that is otherwise entirely nondescript from the outside. These little chapels are common in Galicia. The photo is taken between bars which prohibit access beyond a small entry way. The idea, I believe, is to stop and say a prayer while passing by.
The doorway is the outside of the chapel shown in the photos above.
This scultpure depicts children at play. It is also a pedestrian-friendly fountain in warmer weather.
Typical street view in the historic center.
Pontevedra’s city market has a boat and a giant pulpo (octopus), which is a staple of Galician cuisine. As sea monsters go, this one was fairly friendly looking so I think it’s meant more as a tribute than an expression of fear.
Pontevedra is built on a small hill, offering occasional views.
No shortage of sculptures in this city. On the right, this guy looks like the Mr. Clean guy but is a tribute to the role of the weights and measures authorities in traditional society. Perhaps this reminds us how much we take for granted the important function of government in standardizing commerce. The spray paint graffiti artists sadly did not spare him either although this is a rare case of true artwork being vandalized. The sculpture on the right is Alfonso Castelao, another prominent Galician nationalist from the 1930s who ended up in exile and died in Argentina.

We passed this parrot statue a bunch of times before getting the background on why it’s there. As the story goes, this parrot lived in a pharmacy on the spot of the statue at the turn of the century. The parrot had an impressive speaking ability and also had lived with soldiers at one point, thus leaving him with a very colorful vocabulary and a disposition for sarcasm This made him something of a local celebrity. The parrot died in 1913 (maybe as a result of too many snacks from visitors) and the town has ever since commemorated its burial and memory with festivities in early February. The pharmacist named the parrot Ravachol after an infamous French revolutionary of the time (who was executed by guillotine at the age of 33; seems to be a theme).

The Wikipedia article has an amusing entry on Ravachol. It’s worth reading and can be found here. The article hypothesizes that the parrot descended from a cargo of South American parrots being carried back from the New World in the 1702 when the ships were attacked by the British and wrecked on the Galician coast. The parrots somehow managed to survive and a few were caught by locals as pets.

Every American school kid knows Chris Columbus was Italian and that he sailed to the New World in the “Nina, the Pinta, and Santa Maria” (at least this was common knowledge to kids in 1978).

So get a load of this monument!

“Mas de medio milenio ha, que en esta ribera del Lérez se construyo la carabela Santa María “La Gallega”, sobre la que el Almirante Pontevedres Cristobal Colón cambio el destino del mundo.”

Translation:

“More than half a millennium ago, the caravel Santa María “La Gallega” was built on this bank of the Lérez, on which the admiral Pontevedres Cristobal Colón changed the fate of the world.”

If I’m not mistaken, the Pontevedra Rotary Club is claiming some connection to Christopher Columbus as either a native son, as an admiral in their Navy, or just as a famous explorer whose flagship was built in Pontevedra and christened with the name Santa Gallega. This is the second time we have seen a claim on the identity of Christopher Columbus in Galicia and an insinuation that he was not Italian, but rather a Gallego. The origin of the Santa María is also clouded by time, but the Wikipedia article on the Santa María specifically addresses “The Pontevedra Theory”.

Also, the restaurant in the background is where we had our awesome 22 Euro 3-course lunch for two.

P
Pontevedra has the only “Plaza de Toros” bullfighting ring in Galicia. On the right, tickets for bullfights are sold as either “Sol” or “Sombra” (sun or shade). Probably less an issue here than in Andalusia, but in the summer you don’t have to be here long to know which ticket is more expensive.
The first two photos are just a picturesque arch on a narrow street. The third photo is the entrance to an underground archaeological exhibit of a moat that once surrounded the town and got buried. This is literally 200 feet from the front door of our apartment and has a door that swings open to allow visitors. We thought it was a parking garage entrance for the first week we were here. Final photo is a plaza where we had lunch one day and watched some kids playing while their parents had a long Spanish lunch (that’s a somewhat redundant term).
Obligatory selfie in the central square with Pontevedra marketing sculpture. We’ve seen these in almost every city and Pontevedra’s word sculpture is unique for having stickers left by El Camino pilgrims. It is not a terribly attractive addition. No spray paint at least.

Our apartment

We rented an Air BnB for our 25 day stay in Pontevedra and stayed in a third floor loft unit with a large living space, a nice work area, a kitchen, and a single bedroom. From a sustainability standpoint, it was more than two people need but we sure enjoyed having some space and being able to unpack our suitcase for a few weeks. With lots of windows, it was bright and open in the daytime. The front balcony looked down onto the narrow street. The back windows looked at the “court area” in the center of our block and at the backs of other apartment building with units much much smaller looking than ours. We paid less than $80/day for this place and had no additional utility or wifi expenses. The TV could show Netflix so we even spent some time lounging and watching shows.

Looking toward the front windows from the kitchen entrance. ows from the entrance to the kitchen
The kitchen was very functional and had a table which faced a window looking across a gap to the bedroom.
Reverse view into the kitchen from our bedroom window. This was 0900 in the morning (still dark). We “fell back” halfway through our visit so sunrise moved to 0800.
The owners father had been a Galician author and the shelves were filled with dozens of copies of his books. You could house a small library in our apartment. The upper floor had the bedroom shown on the left and the kitchen to the right. We had a nice big table for working.

A trip to the grocery store

During my Navy deployments, I always enjoyed visiting grocery stores and markets to compare and contrast what was being sold. With a kitchen and 25 days of time, we became regular customers at the neighborhood grocery store. Wanted to share a couple observations.

Move over Cavendish. These bananas are from the Canary Islands (owned by Spain) and are smaller than the typical Chiquita banana common in the U.S.
Tons of fresh seafood of all varieties. We would have no clue how to prepare most of these but based on the fish counter’s size, the Spanish know what they are doing with their fish. Lot of eels. Lot of founder and other “flat” fish.
Eggs at room temperature. This is common throughout Europe. What is the carbon footprint of refrigerated eggs?

Food and Dining

I’ve said before we do not identify as foodies, but the cuisine and the dining experience is a big part of learning about other cultures. Here’s a sampling of our dining adventures.

Lentil soup is a Galician staple.
Grilled meat and fries
Rice pudding
The afternoon “Menu del Dia” is the way to eat here. We had a 3-course meal (photos 1-3) plus a full bottle of house wine plus coffee for 11 Euro each.
$22 for a full meal. No tax. $2 tip.
If you order a mixed salad, chance are it will come with egg, tuna, or both.
When you order drinks in Galicia, they almost always bring some kind of food with it for free. In this case, we got lentil soup with our wine and vermut.
In this case, we ordered beer and it came with sandwiches and chips.
Cod fish will almost always come with bones.
This was the lunch where the kids were playing in the plaza. Great salads.
Shrimp tempura with coconut. A twist on Galician seafood.
No tuna or egg, but lots of cheese on this salad.
Spanish Chef Lyn got good at cooking lentils and vegetables in our kitchen.
Langostina Kataifi. Not sure how they breaded and fried this shrimp to make it looked wrapped in string but it was a work of art…and delicious.
Zamburiñas (Scallops) always come on the half shell and still attached. We’ve ordered them three times and our favorite was ironically in Ourense, further inland. Heavy on olive oil, the Galician scallop is hard to beat.

Farewell, Pontevedra

Pontevedra was a good choice for recuperation. We probably could have found better weather in other parts of Spain at this time of year but the rain didn’t really stop us from seeing what we wanted to see and, in ways, it helped us focus on relaxing in our apartment a bit. We did the planning (hotel, air travel, etc) for the next phases of our trip and locked in plans for our Christmas and New Year celebration with our kids in Andalusia.

Pontevedra should be applauded and visited for its efforts in “pedestrianizing” the city center. You still have to watch out for delivery trucks, street cleaners, and food delivery scooters, but we loved walking around the city center without the noise, smell, or danger of heavy traffic.

We had to dig a bit to find it but the history of this city is rich. Aesthetically, it does not grab you immediately like Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, or Lugo, but it has a charm that took hold more and more with each of our walks.

25 days is not enough to know a place well but it is enough to feel the warmth of familiarity and to take a walk without needing a map to find where you are going or to get back to your starting point. We wish we could have stayed longer but the clock is ticking on our 90-day tourist visa and we need to spend some time outside the “Schengen Area” so we can come back and enjoy southern Spain over the holidays with our kids.

Thank you, Pontevedra, for a great stay!

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