Logbook · 13 places

What to see and do in Becerreá

What to see and do in Becerreá (Ancares, Lugo): 13 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 4 Monuments · 4 Nature · 2 Activities · 1 Historical milestones · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of Becerreá

Towns near Becerreá

What to see in As Nogais 7.7 km · 11 places
What to see in Baralla 7.9 km · 12 places
What to see in Cervantes 8.4 km · 15 places
What to see in Triacastela 12 km · 9 places
What to see in Láncara 13 km · 9 places
What to see in Baleira 18 km · 22 places
What to see in Samos 18 km · 12 places
What to see in Pedrafita do Cebreiro 19 km · 14 places

Spain › Galicia › Lugo › Ancares › Becerreá

What to see and do in Becerreá

Becerreá
Village
Becerreá is the capital of the Los Ancares comarca in Lugo province, with around 2,700 inhabitants at 668 metres above sea level over a mountainous area of 171 square kilometres, and the starting point for routes into the comarca. Its rugged terrain, within the Os Ancares Biosphere Reserve, holds two remarkable woods: the Cruzul holm-oak grove, the northernmost in the Iberian Peninsula, and the Soto de Agüeira, with chestnuts mixed with oaks. It was the sole passage of communication with the meseta from the Via XIX, the Roman road that linked Braga with Astorga, and it preserves the Cistercian church and monastery of Santa María de Penamaior, founded between the 10th and 12th centuries and listed as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection). Its medieval bridge of Gatín carries a legend of a pact with the devil concerning whoever crossed it first.
Monastery of Santa María de Penamaior
Monument
The monastery of Santa María de Penamaior is a former Cistercian abbey located in the parish of the same name, within the municipality of Becerreá. Its earliest reference dates from the year 922, although the current building is considerably later: the entrance tympanum bears the carved year 1177. It first depended as a priory on the monastery of Carracedo, affiliated to the Cistercian order in 1203, and in 1225 it attained the status of an abbey directly dependent on that order, noted as the only Galician monastery with that dependency; in 1505 it was absorbed into the Congregation of Castile and lost its abbatial rank. The church, Romanesque, has a three-nave basilical plan and preserves a doorway with archivolts and a tympanum with a cross flanked by a lion and a tree.
Bridge of Gatín
Monument
Medieval bridge over the river Navia, popularly known as Ponte do Demo because of the legend that attributes its construction to the devil in a single night, a recurring folkloric motif in the Lugo mountains.
Bridge of Cruzul
Monument
The Cruzul bridge crosses the Narón river in the parish of Cruzul, in the municipality of Becerreá, on one of the historic routes linking the plateau with Lugo through the western foothills of the Ancares. It was built in the late 18th century, in neoclassical style, as part of the royal road to A Coruña, within Charles III's plan of royal roads, and is considered the first work of modern civil engineering in Galicia. It is a limestone structure 29 metres high and 93 metres long, with an 8-metre roadway supported by three semicircular arches 12 metres in diameter; of the four pyramidal monoliths at its ends, three survive. It forms part of a natural area within the Natura 2000 network and its declaration as a Bien de Interés Cultural (Spain's highest level of heritage protection) has been requested.
Hillfort of Guilfrei
Nature
Iron Age fortified settlement located in the parish of Galgao, one of the concello's several catalogued castros along with those of Castelo and Guillén, in the parish of Goás.
Cruzul River
Nature
Tributary of the Navia that gives its name to one of the concello's parishes and which flows down enclosed between oak-wooded slopes, in a territory whose main town sits at 668 metres of altitude.
Church of San Xoán de Becerreá
Monument
The parish church of the town of Becerreá, capital of a municipality of twenty-six parishes; its patronal festival, on the night of San Juan, is the main event in the concello's festive calendar.
Cave of os Penedos
Nature
A natural cavity in the municipal district of Becerreá opened in the limestone materials of the sierra; the concello also preserves castro sites at Castelo, Guilfrei and Guillén, on the same outcrops.
Hillfort of Guillén
Nature
A fortified settlement of the parish of Guillén, in the lands that ancient authors attribute to the people of the Zoelae; its position watches over the passage of the road between Lucus and Asturica.
Ancares Festival
Activity
A musical event held in the cultural centre of Becerreá that brings together Galician groups each year in the main service hub of the eastern mountains of Lugo, head of the comarca of the Ancares.
Pilgrimage of a Pena do Pico
Activity
A popular pilgrimage festival held in August on the height of the Pena do Pico, which traditionally gathered not only the residents of Becerreá but also those of the disappeared concellos of Neira.
The ambush of Cruzul against the French troops
Historical milestone
During the Peninsular War, in 1809, the local guerrillas laid an ambush beside the bridge over the river Cruzul and seized a large French arsenal in the middle of the retreat towards Astorga.
Heather honey of the Ancares
Food and drink
A dark honey of intense flavour obtained from the heather that covers the summer pastures of the Becerreá mountains; Galician honeys have their own protected geographical indication under the Mel de Galicia label.