Logbook · 10 places

What to see and do in Ourol

What to see and do in Ourol (Mariña Occidental, Lugo): 10 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 3 Monuments · 3 Nature · 2 Curiosities · 1 Historical milestones

How far each place is from the centre of Ourol

Towns near Ourol

What to see in Viveiro 10 km · 28 places
What to see in Muras 12 km · 5 places
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What to see in Xove 17 km · 12 places
What to see in Alfoz do Castrodouro 19 km · 12 places
What to see in O Vicedo 19 km · 11 places
What to see in Mañón 20 km · 19 places
What to see in As Pontes de García Rodríguez 21 km · 18 places

Spain › Galicia › Lugo › Mariña Occidental › Ourol

What to see and do in Ourol

Ourol
Village
Ourol is an inland concello of the western Mariña lucense, with about 965 inhabitants spread over 144 square kilometres at the foot of the serra do Xistral, from which the Landro and Sor rivers descend; it belonged to the jurisdiction of Viveiro until becoming a municipality in 1840. Its name comes from a villa Aureoli, from a medieval landowner documented in the 10th and 11th centuries. The territory preserves megalithic remains such as the tumuli of A Veiga and Penido Viejo, thirteen petroglyphs at Chao de Sinás and Coto de Xesto, and several castros, among them that of Santa Apolonia, in Gerdiz, with a 16th-century chapel raised on its terrace. In 1392 the knight Fernán Pérez de Andrade obtained a licence to build three churches in the mountains of the Sor.
Church of San Pantaleón de Cabanas
Monument
In 1392 the knight Fernán Pérez de Andrade obtained a licence to build three churches in the hills of the Sor and left his heraldic mark on this parish church; the fabric seen today is largely later, already from the 18th century.
Mountain range of o Xistral
Nature
The core of the northern mountain ranges of Galicia, separating the Terra Chá from the Cantabrian Sea; from this sierra the Toxiza range radiates to the east and the Carba to the west, and it extends across eleven municipalities of Lugo province, among them Ourol. Declared a special area of conservation, it covers 22,964 hectares with a maximum elevation of 1,046 metres at Cadramón, and drains its waters to the Cantabrian Sea via the Landro, Ouro and Masma rivers, and towards the Terra Chá via the basin of the Miño. Frequent fog brings abundant rainfall that favours its blanket bogs, one of the largest carbon sinks in south-western Europe, where horses graze freely. It is home to endemic species such as the lagarta das brañas, at the western limit of its worldwide range.
Sor River
Nature
The Sor river traces the natural border between the provinces of Lugo and A Coruña and flows into the ría do Barqueiro, marking the western boundary of the municipality of Ourol. It is formed by the union of two streams, the Tras da Serra, which rises in the Veiga da Nata (As Pontes de García Rodríguez), and the Santar, which rises in the lands of Muras; both meet at the Ribeira da Señora, in Ambosores. From there it washes on its left the A Coruña municipality of Mañón, and on its right the Lugo municipalities of Ourol and O Vicedo. Documented as Saure and Saurum between the 8th and 12th centuries, its name comes from the Indo-European root sar-, meaning 'to flow, to run', also present in Sanskrit and Greek. Its upper basin is protected together with the sierra del Xistral within the Natura 2000 Network.
Chapel of Santa Apolonia
Monument
A 16th-century hermitage built on the terrace of a circular hillfort in the parish of Xerdiz, a clear example of the Christianisation of an Iron Age fortified enclosure in the interior of A Mariña.
Church of Santiago de Bravos
Monument
The toponym A Igrexa, an uninhabited place in the parish of Bravos, in the municipality (concello) of Ourol, comes from the Latin locus ecclesiae, 'the place of the church', due to the presence there of the church of Santiago de Bravos, a parish temple located at the northern end of the municipality, in the mountains that separate the Sor valley from the Landro valley. The same parish preserves on the hillside the Penagateira hillfort (castro).
Petroglyphs of Chao de Senás
Curiosity
A group of thirteen rock carvings spread between Chao de Senás and the Coto de Xesto, in the parish of Miñotos; they constitute the main nucleus of open-air rock art catalogued in the concello of Ourol.
Tumulus necropolis of Cristo dos Callós
Curiosity
A group of seven megalithic tumuli on the hill of Cristo dos Callós; to them are added in the same concello the two mámoas of Pena do Toxo and the tumuli of A Veiga and of Penido Vello, the latter with its dolmen in view.
Hillfort of Santa Apolonia
Nature
A fortified settlement of circular plan with terraced platforms in the place of Goio, parish of Xerdiz; within its enclosure stands a sixteenth-century chapel, evidence of the Christianisation of the old castros.
The creation of the municipality of Ourol
Historical milestone
The municipality of Ourol was officially constituted on that day; briefly suppressed in 1854, it was restored by royal decree on 25 August of that year, and in 1868 it was again dissolved by the revolutionary junta and reinstated in November.