Village
Catoira is a concello of about 3,300 inhabitants in the comarca of Caldas, situated at the mouth of the Ulla river, on the ría of Arousa, and divided into four parishes with thirty-five population centres. There stand the Torres do Oeste, a fortress raised to check Viking raids, which comes alive every first Sunday of August in the Romaría Vikinga, declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Internacional (Spain's highest tourism-interest designation for festivals); because of this past it is twinned with the Danish town of Frederikssund. Among its other festivals are the patronal feast of San Antonio de Padua, in July, with the Fiesta Gastronómica de la Solla, and that of Santa Eulalia do Oeste, in August, known for its youthful atmosphere.
Monument
The remains of a fortress also known as Castellum Honesti, located in the parish of Santa Baia de Oeste, in Catoira, at the mouth of the río Ulla, at the head of the ría de Arousa. Of pre-Roman and Roman origin, it became between the ninth and twelfth centuries the region's main defensive stronghold against the Norman and Saracen raids that sought to reach Santiago de Compostela by sailing up the Ulla; Diego Xelmírez strengthened it in the twelfth century. Of the original enclosure, which had seven towers, two of pre-Romanesque construction survive today, along with the foundations of another, a stretch of wall and a twelfth-century Romanesque chapel dedicated to the apostle Santiago. It was declared a monumento histórico-artístico (former Spanish heritage-protection category, predecessor of the Bien de Interés Cultural) in 1931; since 1961 it has hosted the Romería Vikinga de Catoira.
Nature
Head of the ría of Arousa, on the final stretch of the river, where fresh water mixes with the tide and the channel widens into rush beds, sandbanks and marsh. It is a passage area for lampreys and shad and for migratory birds, with traditional shellfishing on foot, and the natural setting against which the ruins of the Torres do Oeste stand out.
Nature
A sheet of water in the parish of Catoira, surrounded by trees and meadows, which serves as a recreation area and a refuge for aquatic wildlife in a municipality dominated by the marshes at the mouth of the Ulla.
Curiosity
A replica of the Skuldelev 5, an 11th-century Viking warship preserved at Roskilde, built at the municipality's vocational training school; it measures 17.5 metres, carries thirteen pairs of oars and leads the landing.
Activity
First held in 1961 with a mass for the defenders of the fortress, it re-enacts the Norman assault on the first Sunday of August with a landing of drakkars on the Ulla; it has been a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Internacional (Spain's official designation for festivals of special international tourist interest) since 2002. The festival takes place beside the Torres de Oeste, the former castellum honesti, and recalls Catoira's role in the defence of Galicia against Norman attacks that, about a thousand years ago, sought the treasure of the cathedral of Santiago. Locals dress as Viking warriors and Galician peasants; there is popular music, a medieval fair with mussels and wine from the Ulla, and the landing of the Normans from a replica of an eleventh-century Viking ship. It ends with a popular lunch of sardiñada, octopus and empanada, and a verbena.
Curiosity
A necropolis of Neolithic tumuli located in 1956 on the heights of the concello; its mámoas are added to the castros of Tarrío and das Torres to document a settlement much earlier than the medieval towers.
Historical milestone
The Leonese king orders the mouth of the Ulla to be fortified to halt the Norman incursions that had struck the ría in 858, 968 and 1016; the precinct was dismantled around 1525.
Nature
At 641 metres, Monte Xiabre is the highest point in the area, rising between the municipalities of Catoira, Caldas de Reis and Vilagarcía de Arousa; it is one of the great inland viewpoints of the Arousa area, from whose summit the ria, the mouth of the Ulla, much of the Salnés area and the Umia valley can be taken in. Its abundant vegetation, favoured by more than 1,500 mm of rain a year, has suffered major fires, such as that of August 2005 and the one that devastated Galicia in 2006. On the peak of A Xaiba a well-preserved castro is kept, and in several flat areas burial mounds of probably Neolithic date have been found, as well as petroglyphs discovered in 2007. Fontefría, a meadow with streams, is one of the places most visited by families from the comarca.