Village
Salvaterra de Miño, called Salvatierra until 1916, is a town of about 10,400 inhabitants on the southern border of Pontevedra, at the confluence of the valleys of the Tea and the Miño, which separates it from the Portuguese Monção, with which it forms a eurocity. Its origins go back at least to 991, when the lord Bermudo donated to the church of Santiago the lordship and valley of Salvatierra inherited from his father Ordoño III, and in 1218 Alfonso IX raised it to the rank of town. Its medieval fortress, with sturdy walls and towers, withstood a famous siege from which arose the song “Bendita serás Salvaterra, que así salvas a los hombres”; in 1568 its lord went to defend Pontevedra against the pirate Francis Drake. It celebrates the Festa do Viño do Condado, within the Rías Baixas designation, and keeps up the fishing of lamprey.
Monument
A walled enclosure of 9,700 square metres above the Miño, facing Monção on the Portuguese side, with origins in the 10th and 11th centuries and listed as a cultural asset in 1949; in the Portuguese Restoration War it fell into Portuguese hands until its recovery in 1659.
Monument
A building within the fortified enclosure of Salvaterra that preserves the so-called Covas de Dona Urraca, of the 12th century, with a spiral staircase cut below floor level; the Museum of Wine Science was installed inside it.
Monument
The doorway of the house founded by the inquisitor Bartolomé Barbeito y Padrón, with an inscription of 1668 and three coats of arms: the founder's paternal and maternal lineages on either side and, in the centre, the one referring to his standing as an inquisitor.
Monument
One of the largest historic estates in Galicia, kept undivided across the centuries; its seventy-four hectares include some fifty hectares of Albariño vineyard spread over twelve plots around the manor house. Located in the parishes of Arantei and Cabreira, in the Condado, the house dates from the 16th century, with 18th-century alterations that give it its present appearance; it retains the original stone walls, staircase, chapel and dovecote, and a battlemented square tower bearing the coat of arms of the Sarmiento and Soutomaior families. In 1884 it was acquired by Manuel Bárcena Franco, from Vigo, who planted vines and exported his wine to Cuba, Argentina and France around 1900. Today it belongs to a winery of the Masaveu group, which has restored part of the building's palatial appearance.
Monument
A medieval bridge over the river Tea next to the pazo of the same name; it is one of the river's four historic crossings, along with those of Cernadela, as Partidas and os Remedios, and the closest to the mouth of the Tea on the Miño. 70 metres long, it retains its early medieval granite slab paving and a central arch almost 11 metres high with large cutwaters; it served the Roman Route XX linking Astorga with Braga, although the present bridge, with no visible Roman remains, dates from the 15th century. In 1615 it was rebuilt according to conditions set out by Gaspar de Arce Solórzano, master builder of the cathedral of Santiago, after suffering damage from successive floods and from the Portuguese Restoration War.
Nature
A river beach of some fifty metres of sand on the bank of the Miño, protected and signposted as the end of the municipal trail that sets out from the town's riverside walk and follows the river up around the fortress.
Nature
A river island in the Miño joined by a riverside path that can be walked or cycled from the international bridge and the A Canuda park, passing at the foot of the fortress that watches over the border with Portugal.
Curiosity
Stone structures built out into the channel of the Miño to catch lamprey, salmon and trout; in 2015 the municipality restored three of them, called Maximina, A Bucheira and Mon, which can be visited from the bank.
Activity
Born in 1959 with the first great wine competition of O Condado, it is one of the oldest wine festivals in Galicia and is declared of Tourist Interest in Galicia; it is held in the town at the end of August.
Monument
The parish church of the town of Salvaterra, at the foot of the fortress that commands the Miño; it presides over the settlement to which Alfonso IX granted a charter of settlement in 1218 to secure the border with Portugal.
Monument
A seigneurial house with a tower in the municipal district of Salvaterra, one of the seven catalogued pazos of the concello together with those of Lira, Barreiras, Santo Amaro, Piñeiro, Souto and Fillaboa, the legacy of the border nobility.
Monument
A chapel set on top of the monte Castelo, in the parish of Pesqueiras, about five kilometres from the town; from its esplanade the whole valley of the Tea is commanded before its meeting with the Miño.
Nature
A recreation area in Salvaterra beside a still pool of the river, with small sandy stretches, shade trees, stone tables and a football pitch; it is the concello's main river bathing space in summer.
Nature
A natural balcony in the parish of Pesqueiras, about five kilometres from the urban centre, from which one takes in the valley of the Tea and the sierras that close the Condado to the north; beside it stands the hermitage of the Asunción.
Nature
Twelfth-century galleries with a spiral staircase excavated beneath the enclosure of the fortress of Salvaterra; tradition links them to queen Urraca, who also gives her name to the pazo raised within the same castle.
Activity
The Festival da Poesía no Condado is a poetry and cultural contest held on the first weekend of September in Salvaterra de Miño, organised by the Sociedade Cultural e Deportiva do Condado since 1981, when it was born in Mondariz with the aim of giving value to Galician poetry. It brings together Galician and Portuguese poets in days of recitals with a militant tone, as well as concerts, talks, craft displays and traditional games. Due to economic difficulties it was suspended between 1996 and 2001, the year in which it resumed with its sixteenth edition, and since then it has remained one of the veteran gatherings of poetry in the Galician language.
Historical milestone
King Vermudo II, who reigned between 982 and 999, granted the lordship of Salvaterra to the church of Santiago de Compostela; the enclave, on the Galician bank of the Miño opposite Monção, became from then on a key piece in the control of the border.
Food and drink
A jawless fish that runs up the Miño between January and April and is caught from the stone pesqueiras of the river; stewed in its own blood with rice or with wine of the Condado, it is the comarca's winter dish.