Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Padrenda

What to see and do in Padrenda (Terra de Celanova, Ourense): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 2 Monuments · 2 Nature · 1 Curiosities · 1 Food and drink

How far each place is from the centre of Padrenda

Barxas Bridge 2.3 km
Tower of Grixó 2.4 km

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Spain › Galicia › Ourense › Terra de Celanova › Padrenda

What to see and do in Padrenda

Padrenda
Village
Padrenda is a concello in the comarca of Tierra de Celanova (Ourense), overlooking the lower course of the Miño river and facing the Portuguese town of Melgaço. It has gone from more than 4,000 residents in 1981 to about 1,550 today. Across its lands, dotted with ancient burial mounds, ran a pilgrim route with a Templar hospital for pilgrims. The economy rests on maize, potatoes, fruit and vines, with a granite quarry and a hydroelectric plant at Frieira. Among its festivals, that of San Xoán de Crespos stands out, when at night residents' old wooden carts are taken from them to be hung from an oak tree in the square, and the Romería da Portela, where polbo á feira and carne ó caldeiro are shared.
Tower of Grixó
Monument
Fortified house built between 1580 and 1660, now converted into rural tourism accommodation; it shares the municipal district with the ruins of the castle of Bandexa and with the fortress of Desteriz, right on the raia with Portugal.
Barxas Bridge
Monument
Ponte Barxas is a place in the parish of Padrenda, in the municipality of the same name, within the Terra de Celanova comarca; in 2022 it had 119 inhabitants. It sits on the bank of the Barxas or Troncoso river, which here forms the border with Portugal via a bridge that reaches the Portuguese hamlet of São Gregório, in the concejo of Melgaço. It is a historic crossing point into Portugal where the customs house is still preserved, which operated until the Schengen Agreement came into force in 1992; through here, during the post-war years, ran intense smuggling that left its mark even in the paso doble titled La Ramboya.
Pilgrims' hospital of Padrenda
Curiosity
A medieval establishment that passed through the hands of the Templars and of the Order of Saint John, in a municipality crossed by roads towards Portugal and also linked to the monasteries of Ramirás and Celanova.
Miño River through Padrenda
Nature
The Miño marks the border with Portugal here and is used today for catamaran trips, whitewater descents and trout and eel fishing; downstream the Frieira hydroelectric plant is in operation.
The Miño as it passes through Padrenda
Nature
The river here serves as the border with Portugal and, stilled by the hydroelectric works, allows navigation and water sports. Its banks preserve groves and old 17th-century mills spread through the parishes.
The hunting of the Padrenda mountains
Food and drink
Rabbit and wild boar still supply the winter cooking in the upland parishes of this border concello, where hunting coexists with trout and eel fishing on the banks of the Miño.