Village
A Pobra do Caramiñal is a town of about 9,500 inhabitants situated on the north-western shore of the ría of Arousa, in the comarca do Barbanza, in the south-west of the province of A Coruña. It sits wedged between the waters of the ría and the sierra do Barbanza, where heights such as A Curotiña (368 m), A Curota (498 m) — a viewpoint over the Rías Baixas —, Os Forcados (590 m) and Mount Barbanza itself (656 m) rise, along with the canyon formed by the river of the same name. Its name recalls the caramiña, a coastal shrub now scarce that also gave its name to Camariñas. The present-day town was born in 1841 from the union of O Castelo and Caramiñal, and each September its Nazareno festival brings the das mortallas procession out into the streets.
Monument
A Renaissance tower in plateresque style built between 1540 and 1545, one of the few examples of a Galician Renaissance palace preserved to this day; it is traditionally attributed to the merchant Juan Domínguez Giance, although other sources point to the lord of the place, Gómez Pérez das Mariñas, who in 1554 raised A Pobra do Caramiñal to the status of a town. It was linked to the Valle-Inclán family, whose parents were its last occupants before selling it in 1898 to the businessman Manuel Lojo, who turned it into a salting warehouse and damaged it severely; Valle-Inclán himself tried unsuccessfully to recover it from Alfonso XIII. Ruined after the salt-fish crisis, it was acquired in 1981 by the Concello, which restored it. Declared a monumento histórico-artístico (a former Spanish heritage-protection category, the precursor to the BIC) in 1976, it has housed the Valle-Inclán Museum since 1987.
Monument
A medieval fortress built by the Xunqueiras family and badly damaged in the 15th-century irmandiño revolt, from which the keep survived; the complex was declared a Monumento Histórico-Artístico (Spain's heritage designation in force between 1931 and 1985) on 27 March 1981.
Monument
A church in the seafaring Gothic style begun in the late 14th century, with a single nave divided into five bays by pointed arches and a polygonal chancel of the early 15th century covered by a fan vault on slender columns.
Nature
The mirador da Curota crowns Mount A Curota, 512 metres high, at the south-western end of the sierra del Barbanza, within the municipality of A Pobra do Caramiñal. It is one of the most far-reaching viewpoints of the Rías Bajas: from its summit one can make out the ría de Arousa, the dunes of Corrubedo, the island of Sálvora and the islands of Ons and Cíes, and on clear days Mount Galiñeiro above Vigo and the Serra da Groba above Bayona can also be seen. The mountain, made of granite rock, has meadows and yellow-flowering gorse in its upper reaches in spring, and among its fauna a slug species, Geomalacus maculosus, listed as vulnerable, stands out. On its slopes mámoas and two sets of petroglyphs, possibly of medieval date, have been found.
Nature
A string of pools scooped by the water out of the granite of the A Curota valley, linked by the circular PRG-91 path of some twenty-two kilometres, which climbs through riverside woodland and restored mills.
Nature
A beach that continues into the sands of A Lombiña on the ría de Arousa, the largest in the municipality and one of those that regularly receive the blue flag; a pine wood on dune soil closes it off.
Activity
A September celebration declared de Interés Turístico de Galicia (an official tourism distinction awarded to notable festivals) in 2000, famous for the procession das mortallas: since the 15th century devotees have processed shrouded inside their coffins to give thanks for having survived an illness. It is held on the third Sunday of September, and local tradition places its origin in the legend of the councillor Juan Linares, who after sentencing several thieves to death fell seriously ill; having recovered his health thanks to the Nazareno, he processed shrouded and ordered the condemned men to carry his coffin, whom he later pardoned. Ramón María del Valle-Inclán recorded the tradition in his Comedias Bárbaras, proof of its fame already in the early 20th century.
Activity
A festival in the third week of August in honour of the sailors' patron saint, combining the Carmen procession with the Sanxuerguíns, a celebration of water that leaves the whole town soaked.
Monument
A tower-fortress of medieval origin raised by the Xunqueiras lineage and rebuilt after being stormed by the irmandiños in 1467; the complex, with chapel and walled enclosure, later passed from stronghold to residential pazo.
Monument
A 16th-century church of a single nave and pointed arches, an example of the so-called maritime Gothic paid for with the rents of the sea; it was the parish church of the Caramiñal centre when it was still a villa separate from Pobra do Deán.
Nature
A rocky balcony of the sierra de O Barbanza, almost five hundred metres above the ría de Arousa, from which the mouths of several Rías Baixas can be seen; its panoramic value earned it declaration as a natural site of national interest.
Nature
A succession of pools and small falls on the watercourse that comes down from the sierra through the parish of Lesón, punctuated by old stone flour mills that harnessed the force of the water; today it is a much-frequented river bathing spot.
Curiosity
At the festival of Xesús Nazareno, empty coffins are carried in procession by those who have escaped a serious illness or death; the tradition has its roots in the 15th century, Valle-Inclán mentioned it and it is declared of tourist interest of Galicia.
Food and drink
A summer show devoted to the shellfish of the ría de Arousa, with cockles, queen scallops, razor clams, mussels and velvet crabs served at stalls beside the port and accompanied by empanada and wine of the comarca.
Historical milestone
The irmandiños pulled down the fortress from which the dean of Compostela governed the town; the spot it occupied gave its name to the parish of O Castelo, and that same year, 1467, the tower of Xunqueiras was also stormed.
Historical milestone
O Caramiñal, a villa since 1554 and a concello since 1813, joined the neighbouring Pobra do Deán, born in the fourteenth century under the lordship of the dean of Compostela; from that agreement, not consolidated until 1840, came the compound name the town bears today.
Activity
It is held on the last Sunday of August, within the festivities of San Bartolomé, and its main event is a competition to which private individuals and establishments bring their empanadas to compete for the best in the town.