Village
Marín is a port town in the comarca of Morrazo, in the province of Pontevedra, situated on the southern shore of the ría de Pontevedra, whose urban centre, one of the largest in Galicia, has spread northward until merging with that of the provincial capital, barely seven kilometres away. Seat of its own judicial district, which also covers Bueu, it has around 24,000 inhabitants whose main economic activity is fishing. It was formerly called San Xiao de Ancorados after the ships that anchored nearby, a name derived from Encoirados, the leather tanneries that once stood on the bank of the río Lameira. It has been home since 1943 to the Naval Military School and is Galicia's leading fishing port by landings; beside the beach of Mogor Bronze Age petroglyphs are preserved.
Monument
The Escola Naval Militar, an academy founded in Cádiz in 1717 and now affiliated with the University of Vigo, is the training centre for future officers of the Spanish Navy and occupies a large part of the town centre of Marín, where it moved in July 1943 from San Fernando; it was officially inaugurated on 15 August of that year. Its grounds cover 241,000 square metres, not counting the island of Tambo, and the Lameira river runs underground through it before flowing out at its quay. Training lasts five years for the Escala Superior de Oficiales and three for the Escala de Oficiales, with constant practice at sea. On 16 July, the feast day of the Navy's patron saint, commissions are awarded and new classes swear allegiance to the flag, with the training ship Juan Sebastián Elcano in attendance.
Monument
The petroglyphs, popularly known as the Mogor Labyrinths, are found at the spot known as A Barriada, in the parish of Mogor, and form part of the rock-art complex of Terras de Pontevedra. Although as many as seven rocky groups with carvings were once documented, only three remain visible today: the Pedra do Labirinto, with wide, deep grooves around a central cup mark; the Pedra dos Campiños, with finer lines and lacking the cup mark and appendages of the former; and the Laxe dos Mouros, formerly called Pedra da Moura Encantada, with twenty-three circular combinations and numerous cup marks. The labyrinth motif, typical of these Bronze Age carvings, is unusual in Galician rock art: only five examples are known, all in Pontevedra. The site has an interpretation centre, opened in the summer of 2015.
Nature
The Castro da Subidá, a fortified Iron Age settlement also known as the Castro da Porteliña, sits between the parishes of San Xurxo de Mogor and San Xián, with views over the Lameira valley to the northeast and the Bagüín valley to the west. It occupies an oval acropolis of about 3 to 4 hectares, flanked by two rocky promontories that tradition attributes to old defences. Petroglyphs and several cuncheiros (shell middens) were found on its slopes, and the castro dwellings spread mainly across the eastern slope. It was surveyed in the early 1980s and excavated again between May and September 2011, when dwelling structures were restored; some of the bronze items found are kept in the Museo de Pontevedra.
Nature
Mogor beach is a shell-shaped cove 400 metres long on the southern shore of the Ría de Pontevedra, in the municipality of Marín, 8 kilometres from the provincial capital, enclosed by dense woodland over a rocky outcrop. With fine white sand and calm waters sheltered from the wind, it holds the blue flag distinction and is suitable for sports such as water-skiing, sailing, jet-skiing or windsurfing. It lies 600 metres from Portocelo beach and a few minutes' walk from the petroglyph complex of the same name.
Nature
Aguete beach, with golden sand and about 920 metres in length, lies on the Ría de Pontevedra next to the harbour and the Real Club de Mar de Aguete, close to the town of Marín. It is a half-shell-shaped beach sheltered from the wind, with calm waters that make it suitable for water sports such as water-skiing, sailing, jet-skiing or windsurfing, and it holds the blue flag distinction. It faces the island of Tambo and the mouth of the Ría de Pontevedra, in the western part of the municipality. It is reached from Pontevedra via the PO-12 and PO-11 roads to Marín, and from there via the PO-551 and a small road beside the Escuela Naval.
Nature
The Lagoa de Castiñeiras is an artificial lake on Monte de Cotorredondo, between the Morrazo and Pontevedra districts, shared between the municipalities of Vilaboa and Marín, in whose parish of San Xián part of its shore lies. Around it extends one of the oldest forest parks in Galicia, managed by the Xunta and replanted since the 1950s — probably over the first plantings of the provincial reforestation plan begun in 1927 — with chestnuts, birches, American oaks and other species, covering some seventy hectares in all. The park has a Nature Classroom run by the Teixugo cooperative and a field of four burial mounds, among which the Mámoa do Rei stands out.
Curiosity
A balcony on the hill that separates the rías of Vigo and Pontevedra: in a single turn you can see the San Simón inlet, the ría de Pontevedra and, on clear days, the ría de Arousa, something exceptional on the Galician coast.
Curiosity
The Navy's brigantine schooner ties up at the Naval Academy quay at the end of its training cruises; in almost a century of service it has sailed more than 1,850,000 miles and entered more than two hundred ports.
Nature
Portocelo beach, on the Pontevedra estuary, is 350 meters long with fine white sand; its calm waters, sheltered from the wind, are suitable for sports such as water skiing, sailing, jet skiing, windsurfing and pedal boating, and it holds the Blue Flag distinction. It is the easternmost beach in the municipality of Marín, one kilometer from the town center, from which it is separated by an old eucalyptus grove that already appeared on film in the movie Botón de Ancla, shot at the Naval Academy; a walk among pines and eucalyptus trees connects it with the neighboring beach of Mogor.
Curiosity
The villa was so called because the liner ships anchored in its cove; Father Sarmiento, by contrast, connected the present name with the Latin word mare, the sea that has given the place its meaning.
Food and drink
The port is one of the great ones of the ría de Pontevedra and its auction house sells hake, horse mackerel, sardine and local shellfish every day, which the local cuisine prepares grilled, in caldeirada or in empanada.
Curiosity
A tiny island of little more than a hectare and a half and fourteen metres in height off the coast of Marín, which can be reached on foot along a tongue of sand when the tide falls far enough.