Logbook · 7 places

What to see and do in Vilanova de Arousa

What to see and do in Vilanova de Arousa (Salnés, Pontevedra): 7 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 5 Monuments · 1 Nature

How far each place is from the centre of Vilanova de Arousa

Towns near Vilanova de Arousa

What to see in A Illa de Arousa 2.9 km · 10 places
What to see in Cambados 5.5 km · 11 places
What to see in Ribadumia 7.9 km · 7 places
What to see in Vilagarcía de Arousa 8 km · 10 places
What to see in O Grove 8 km · 12 places
What to see in A Pobra do Caramiñal 9.4 km · 18 places
What to see in Rianxo 9.6 km · 19 places
What to see in Boiro 11 km · 18 places

Spain › Galicia › Pontevedra › Salnés › Vilanova de Arousa

What to see and do in Vilanova de Arousa

Vilanova de Arousa
Village
Vilanova de Arousa is a concello of about 10,200 inhabitants in the province of Pontevedra, in the Salnés comarca, with twenty kilometres of coastline facing the Illa de Arousa. Its founding dates back to the 7th century, with the construction of the monastery of Calogo, whose bell tower is still preserved, and the town was burned in the Middle Ages by Norman raids that coveted the treasures of Santiago cathedral. In the pazo do Cuadrante, the house of a family of seafaring tradition that also built the tower of Calago and the pazo of the Marquis of Bolaños —later converted into a salting factory—, Ramón María del Valle-Inclán was born; today the building is a house museum. From those old salting works grew the canning factories that still sustain much of the town.
Palace of o Cuadrante
Monument
A 16th-century manor house where Ramón María del Valle-Inclán, author of the Comedias bárbaras and of the esperpento, was born in 1866; it is a declared Monumento Histórico-Artístico (Spain's heritage designation in force between 1931 and 1985) and keeps the writer's memory alive.
Tower of Cálogo
Monument
The last standing vestige of the monastery of San Cibrán de Cálago, destroyed by Norse raids between the 9th and 10th centuries; it is a tower of granite ashlar topped by a two-arched belfry and appears on the town's coat of arms.
Pazo Baión
Monument
A 287-hectare wine estate planted with albariño grapes in the parish of Baión, which became the largest planting of this variety in Galicia and remains the largest in the Salnés. The current pazo, built on a medieval tower-house belonging to the Priegue family, began to be constructed in 1928 by returning emigrant Adolfo Fojo Silva. Acquired in 1987 by drug trafficker Laureano Oubiña and his wife Esther Lago, the estate was neglected during the years it became notoriously famous, with demonstrations by mothers of drug addicts outside its gates. Seized in 1995 and placed under embargo by judge Baltasar Garzón, it was acquired in 2008 by the Condes de Albarei winemaking cooperative, which restored it to a design by César Portela and turned it into a benchmark for wine tourism.
Monastery of San Cibrán de Cálago
Monument
The monastery of San Cibrán de Cálago was founded in the 7th century by San Froitoso; a document from 846 already mentions it as existing, with its monks following the rule of San Benito. It was destroyed by Norman Vikings in 884 and again by Almanzor in 997, in the same expedition that sacked Santiago de Compostela, and rebuilt on both occasions. It later came under the dependency of Compostela cathedral and then, as a priory, of San Martiño Pinario, and remained the parish church of Vilanova until it fell into ruin in the 19th and 20th centuries: around 1810 the parish moved to A Pastoriza, built partly with its stones, as were many houses in the village. Today only part of the bell tower survives, in Cálago, depicted on the concello's coat of arms.
Monte Lobeira
Nature
A hill 259 metres high located in André, in the municipality of Vilanova de Arousa, which overlooks the ría de Arousa from a viewpoint at its summit with views of the Illa de Arousa, the Barbanza mountain range and, to the south, the lands of the Salnés as far as the Illa de Ons. It stands where the castle of Lobeira once rose, held by Spanish monarchs during the Middle Ages: in the 11th and 12th centuries Queen Urraca settled there in search of safety, and after its use as a royal residence ended it was abandoned and, from the 15th century, left in ruins. Remains of its towers and the cisterns where provisions for battles were stored can still be seen. The mountain, mentioned in verses of Galician popular literature as a watchtower over the estuary, was hit by the wildfires of 2006.
Arnelas Bridge
Monument
Bridge of Roman origin over the river Umia, popularly known as a ponte dos padriños, which crossed the riverbed on the route linking the ría de Arousa with the inland Salnés territory. It joins the places of Baión, in the parish of the same name in Vilanova de Arousa, with Leiro, already in the neighbouring municipality of Ribadumia, the two together forming a single urban centre divided by the course of the river. It was one of the notable bridges where the ritual of early baptism was practised.