Logbook · 8 places

What to see and do in A Merca

What to see and do in A Merca (Terra de Celanova, Ourense): 8 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 1 Monuments · 3 Nature · 1 Activities · 2 Curiosities

How far each place is from the centre of A Merca

Towns near A Merca

What to see in Taboadela 6.9 km · 2 places
What to see in A Bola 8 km · 4 places
What to see in Barbadás 8.6 km · 4 places
What to see in San Cibrao das Viñas 8.7 km · 4 places
What to see in Celanova 9.1 km · 12 places
What to see in Allariz 9.3 km · 22 places
What to see in Ramirás 11 km · 5 places
What to see in Toén 11 km · 4 places

Spain › Galicia › Ourense › Terra de Celanova › A Merca

What to see and do in A Merca

A Merca
Village
A Merca is a municipality of about 1,960 inhabitants located in the west-central part of the province of Ourense, in the comarca of Terra de Celanova, split between the basins of the Miño and Arnoia rivers, beneath the foothills of Mount Barracel, which on the boundary with Allariz reaches 856 metres. Its coat of arms features five castros, the Arnoya river and a cross representing the church of San Pedro da Mezquita, declared a Monumento Nacional (a former Spanish heritage-protection category) in 1931. Its municipality also boasts the largest collection of canastros in Galicia, with thirty-four hórreos. It lies about 9 km from Allariz and Celanova and 15 km from the city of Ourense, in a comarca close to the wine-growing area of the Ribeiro and to the Termas de Bande.
Church of San Pedro da Mezquita
Monument
Declared a Monumento Nacional (Spain's heritage designation in force until 1931) in 1931, it preserves a doorway of great sculptural richness, anthropomorphic tombs cut into the rock beside its walls and, inside, a great Christ on a carved cross. It was the head of the lordship of the house of Braganza, of whose tower part remains, and it is the medieval jewel of the concello and of the whole Terra de Celanova.
Canastros of A Merca
Curiosity
The concello of A Merca preserves a group of thirty-four canastros (granaries), the largest concentration of this type of hórreo documented in Galicia and one of the most important in Europe, gathered in the Campo da Feira of the town centre. This grouping is the result of a reorganisation in the 1970s: faced with urban modernisation works, residents moved their hórreos from their original sites, scattered throughout the town, to this common space, on a well-ventilated hillside. Wood predominates as the structural material, with some mixed examples of stone and wood, on granite bases that isolate the storage chamber from the ground. In 2024 the Xunta and the town council agreed on the partial restoration of the group.
Barracel
Nature
At 856 metres it is the highest point in the concello, well above the 400 to 500 metres at which most of the district lies, where the climate already marks the transition between the oceanic and the Mediterranean.
Arnoia waterfalls in A Merca
Nature
The Arnoia drops over a series of waterfalls on this stretch before continuing on its way towards the Miño; along its bank four Iron Age castros are lined up: Peneda da Lebre, Outeiro de San Marcos, Rodela and Monte do Castro.
Carnival of os galos da Merca
Activity
Carnival of masks of the concello's own: the galos go through the streets in brightly coloured costumes and with their own rules of play, and they are joined by the mecos of Froxás das Viñas, in one of the variants of the Ourense entroido least known outside the comarca, in a municipality of fewer than two thousand inhabitants.
The gorge of the Muíños dos Mouros
Nature
At Salpurido, a stream is hemmed into a rocky gorge forming falls of water beside the remains of old mills. It is the wildest corner of a district organised by the rivers Barbaña and Arnoia.
The hórreos of A Merca
Curiosity
The concello preserves a group of thirty-four hórreos standing together, held to be the largest in the whole Galician territory. Aligned on the same field, they give the measure of the importance cereal had here.