Village
Arbo is a concello of about 2,600 inhabitants facing the Miño, opposite the Portuguese town of Melgaço, to which an international bridge links it. Since Roman times lamprey has been fished in its waters by a very old method, in the stone pesqueiras still in use; the last weekend of April sees the Festa da Lamprea, declared a Fiesta de Interés Turístico Nacional (a national-level Spanish tourism-interest designation for festivals), and the municipality has a wine and lamprey interpretation centre called Arabo. Every second Sunday of September the danza blanca gallega is danced in honour of the Virgen del Libramiento, the village's patroness, drawn by an ox cart.
Monument
A bridge with a single pointed arch of some 12.4 metres span over the River Deva, on the old royal road that linked Ribadavia with Salvaterra de Miño and Tui; it was the scene of the fighting against the French in 1809.
Monument
A large water-powered sawmill probably built at the end of the 19th century beside the bridge of San Xoán de Mourentán, on the River Deva; it was completely rebuilt and can now be visited as an example of the comarca's river industry.
Monument
A group of badly eroded rock carvings in which concentric circles and other figures can still be made out; they occupy a knoll commanding the Deva valley and are the archaeological stop on the Moura circular trail.
Nature
Mountain range that gives its name to the comarca and runs through the Pontevedra municipalities of A Caniza, Arbo and As Neves in a northeast-southwest direction, closing off Arbo to the north and separating the banks of the Miño from the inland valleys. Its highest point is Monte Paradanta itself, in A Caniza, at 954 metres; other notable peaks are San Nomedio, in As Neves, and San Fins, in Cabeiras (Arbo). The last Sunday of August hosts the traditional curro da Paradanta, and the Romaría da Franqueira is also notable.
Nature
A viewpoint at almost seven hundred metres beside a recreational area and the chapel of San Fins, taking in the Miño valley and much of northern Portugal.
Nature
A balcony over the bank of the Miño looking straight across at the Portuguese concelho of Melgaço, with the stone pesqueiras sown across the channel and the albariño vineyards hanging above the riverside.
Curiosity
Stone structures raised within the bed of the Miño, on the stretch that forms the border with Portugal, to catch lamprey as it comes up the river between January and April by setting the net across the current. They have their origin in Roman times and along some thirty kilometres of river close to four hundred of the seven hundred there once were are preserved.
Curiosity
An uninhabited settlement where only the stone walls of the houses are still standing, covered in moss and surrounded by dense oak woods; it is one of the stops on the Moura circular trail.
Curiosity
A polished axe found at the place of Cabeiras, testifying to the Neolithic occupation of this bank of the Miño long before the Romans arrived; the piece is kept in the collections of the Museum of Pontevedra.
Activity
Held since 1960 at the height of the lamprey season, between January and April, it is considered the oldest gastronomic festival in Galicia and has been declared of National Tourist Interest.
Activity
A circular route of ten kilometres and medium difficulty that starts at the bridge of San Xoán de Mourentán and links a river beach, mills, the abandoned hamlet of Trabuzos and the petroglyphs of Coto da Moura.
Monument
An 18th-century masonry bridge over the river Deva, of a single span of 12.4 metres, with a pointed arch and a humped roadway; it formed part of the royal road that linked Ribadavia with Salvaterra de Miño and Tui.
Monument
The crossing over the Miño links the villa with Melgaço, on the Portuguese bank; for centuries that closeness made Arbo a setting for the wars between the two crowns and today it joins it to the trade in wine and lamprey.
Curiosity
The coat of arms approved in 1995 bears the single-arched bridge, two keys, bunches of grapes and a border with two lampreys; the flag adopted in 2002 repeats the lamprey and the bunch of grapes on a blue field.
Curiosity
An engraved rock situated near the Miño, in the parish of San Xoán, testimony to the prehistoric occupation of the valley along with the Neolithic axe found at Cabeiras and today kept in the Museum of Pontevedra.
Nature
Here the river cuts between granite hillsides planted with terraced vineyards, with river islands, rapids and still pools where the pesqueiras are set up; it is the stretch of the river with the strongest lamprey-fishing tradition. The pesqueiras of Arbo are unique constructions on both sides of the riverbed, shaped like stone parallelepipeds that reach into the channel from the two banks, traditionally used to catch lamprey and salmon with conical nets.
Historical milestone
During the Peninsular War the residents tried in 1809 to prevent the passage of the French troops over the bridge on the Deva, a key crossing on the royal road, but they failed to hold it.
Historical milestone
The oldest written document about Arbo is the privilege by which Alfonso VII, who reigned between 1126 and 1157, granted the territory to the Cistercian Monasterio de Melón, followed by numerous later grants.
Activity
One of the oldest gastronomic festivals in Galicia is held in spring around the lamprey of the Miño, served bordelaise style with its own blood and rice, in empanada or cured in the drying house.
Food and drink
In the pesqueiras of the Miño the lamprey is split open from mouth to tail, gutted and put through salting, drying and smoking; preserved in this way it is eaten out of season, grilled, stewed or in an empanada, all year round.