Village
Pedrafita do Cebreiro, in the Ancares comarca, is the highest municipality in Galicia, with its capital at 1,098 meters and about 870 inhabitants. It sits on a plateau that for the most part exceeds 1,000 meters, between the Piornal, Rañadoiro and Chao da Serra mountain ranges, where the Navia and Lor rivers rise. The Piedrafita pass has long been the main gateway into Galicia from Castile and León, a route that gave rise to the passage of the Way of St. James. In O Cebreiro, the first Galician stop on the Camiño Francés, pallozas with vegetal roofs and the pre-Romanesque church of Santa María are preserved, linked to the legend of the Holy Grail that in 1486 brought the Catholic Monarchs here.
Monument
The sanctuary of Santa María a Real do Cebreiro, in the parish of Cebreiro, was founded by the Count of Aurillac as part of a monastery and is one of the oldest monuments on the French route of the Way of Saint James, which tradition links to the legend of the Holy Grail, reflected in Galicia's coat of arms. It is a 9th-century pre-Romanesque church with a rectangular nave and a tiled gabled roof, formed of three naves ending in a triple apse; the façade, not original, was rebuilt later. It preserves an 18th-century baptismal font, a 12th-century chalice and some silver-plated rock-crystal ampoules donated by Isabella the Catholic during her visit in 1486. Tradition has it that the monks rang the bell to guide pilgrims on foggy days.
Monument
Group of stone dwellings with thatched roofs clustered beside the sanctuary, at more than one thousand two hundred metres of altitude; they are the architectural emblem of the Camino Francés's entry into Galicia.
Nature
At 1,615 metres it is the greatest height in the concello, followed by A Muralla, at 1,480, and Area, at 1,402; from its summit one looks over the divide between Galicia and León by which the Camino Francés enters.
Nature
Two of the great rivers of the Lugo mountains rise in the ranges of this concello: the Navia, which flows north towards the Cantabrian Sea, and the Lor, which cuts southwards in search of the Sil.
Curiosity
Tradition tells that in the sanctuary the consecrated bread and wine turned into flesh and blood before a peasant who had climbed up through the snow to hear mass; the chalice the church holds is from the 12th century.
Curiosity
The parish priest of O Cebreiro Elías Valiña, a scholar of the Camino who died in 1989, promoted the waymarking with yellow arrows that today guides pilgrims across Europe; his grave is beside the sanctuary.
Curiosity
With its municipal capital at 1,098 metres above sea level, this is the highest-lying concello in the whole of Galicia, divided into twelve parishes on the divide with the province of León.
Activity
The Jacobean route enters Galicia through this concello after the hard climb from the Valcarce valley, and reaches O Cebreiro, the first Galician hamlet on the Camino Francés and one of the most memorable stages.
Monument
The parish church of Fonfría, a stage of the Camino Francés between the Alto do Poio and Triacastela; the parish maintained a pilgrims' hospital on the descent from the summits of the Cebreiro.
Nature
A summit of 1,480 metres in the highest concello in Galicia, behind only the pico do Faro; from its crest one commands at once the basins of the Navia and the Lor, which rise in this same municipal district.
Curiosity
A stone cross on the height of Padornelo, cited in Galician cantigas and sayings as a reference point for the mountain crossing; it marked the spot where emigrant harvesters said farewell to their land.
Activity
A pass at 1,335 metres by which the Camino Francés reaches its highest point in Galicia; pilgrims cross it after O Cebreiro before beginning the long descent towards the valley of the Sarria.
Food and drink
A Galician cheese with a designation of origin, made from cow's milk to which up to 40% goat's milk may be added, in several concellos of the eastern mountains of Lugo, among them Pedrafita do Cebreiro. Its shape, reminiscent of a chef's hat, and its slightly sharp, tangy flavour make it easily recognisable; the paste is coarse-grained and the rind thin, white or yellow depending on the degree of ripening. Pilgrims on the Camino have long helped make it known, and its existence has been documented since the 18th century. It is made in small quantities, barely 20 to 28 tonnes a year, shared among a handful of family farms; it is eaten fresh or cured, and also with honey as a dessert.