Ourense

The valley of the Miño at Ourense was already settled before the Romans arrived, as iron-age hill forts at Oira, San Tomé and Valdegola make clear. The Romans founded the city proper around the thermal springs known as As Burgas. Two theories compete for the origin of the name: one traces it to a Latin phrase meaning "city of gold," reflecting the gold once found in the Miño itself; the other points to words meaning "burning waters," in both Latin and Germanic, a nod to the hot springs.

After Rome, the city kept its importance largely because of its bridge over the Miño, whose foundations remain Roman even though the structure has been rebuilt many times. During the Suebi period, Ourense is thought to have served as a royal court under kings Karriarico and Theodimir; the latter ordered the first church built in honour of Saint Martin of Tours, the city's patron, reportedly out of gratitude for his son's recovery from illness. Under the Visigoths it became an episcopal see within the diocese of Hispania, answering to the archdiocese of Braga.

The city is believed to have suffered Arab and Norman raids before a slow recovery began. In 1084 Bishop Ederonio restored the old cathedral. From 1122, following a grant by Doña Teresa of Portugal, the bishops of Ourense held jurisdiction over the city, a power they kept until 1628. Medieval life was shaped by a succession of bishops, including Pedro Seguín and Bishop Lorenzo, who carried out vital repairs to the crumbling Roman bridge. Late in the medieval period, the bishops ordered the construction of the Castelo Ramiro on a hilltop commanding the city, though the Catholic Monarchs ordered it demolished in 1486.

Other notable medieval events include the Duke of Lancaster's occupation of the city and his claim to the Castilian throne through his wife's rights, the second Irmandiño revolt of 1468, and a 1501 meeting between Philip the Handsome, Juana, and Cardinal Cisneros. In the following centuries the Church drove most of what building activity there was, with the Jesuits arriving around the mid-sixteenth century. Designation as a provincial capital brought a new administrative class, and the arrival of the railway from Vigo gave the city a further push, consolidating a rising bourgeoisie.

An old Galician saying sums up Ourense's three most prized sights: the Santo Cristo, the bridge, and Las Burgas with their boiling water — three things, the saying goes, found nowhere else in Spain.

The bridge in question is the Puente Viejo, also called the Puente Medieval. The original Roman crossing from the time of Augustus survives only in a few base stones; the pointed-arch profile visible today was established in a later reconstruction, with the definitive repairs carried out by Melchor de Velasco Agüero. A tower that once appeared on the city's coat of arms was demolished in an earlier century.

Ourense's relationship with its river has produced several more crossings worth knowing. The Puente Nuevo, designed by engineer Martín Díez de la Banda and finished in 1918, has six stone arches and one parabolic metal span. The railway viaduct, completed in 1958, is 415 metres long with arches rising 46 metres; it was designed by José Luis Tovar Bisbal, who also designed the train station. The Puente Novísimo followed in 1971 to ease traffic from the Puente Nuevo. The Puente del Milenio, opened in 2001 to designs by architect Álvaro Varela and engineer Juan M. Calvo, combines concrete and steel; its pedestrian walkway rises 22 metres above the Miño, giving striking views of the river, and its side ramps slope at 67 percent. The Pasarela del Vado, a pedestrian footbridge from 2003, connects the riverside quarter to the city centre and rests on just two concrete pillars, the rest of the structure being interlocked metal tubes.

Further out, the single-arch Puente Loña appears in medieval documents and was consolidated in 1969 and restored in 1988. The Puente Codesera, dating from the sixteenth or seventeenth century, was relocated in 1984 to save it from demolition and now stands near the boundary with the municipality of Amoeiro.

Other listed monuments include the Liceo de Ourense–Palacio de los Oca-Valladares and the Museo Arqueológico de Ourense, both designated Bienes de Interés Cultural.

The nearest international airport is Santiago de Compostela, about 115 km northwest, well served by European flights. Vigo (90 km west) and A Coruña (170 km north) handle mainly domestic routes. Trains from Madrid Chamartín run every hour or two, taking around 2 hours 30 minutes via Segovia Guiomar and Zamora; one daily service comes from Alicante; from Barcelona, change in Madrid.

The hourly service from A Coruña and Santiago also stops here, and four trains a day connect Lugo in 90 minutes. The station is north of the river, about 1 km from the centre. Monbus runs twice daily from Madrid Moncloa (roughly 7 hours), continuing to Vigo; on Saturdays a bus from Bilbao takes around 10 hours.

The bus station sits next to the railway station. From Madrid, take the A-6 onto the A-52; from Santiago, use the AP-53 (toll) or N-525 (toll-free). Most sights are walkable.

Avanza operates around 30 local bus routes; buses 1, 3 and 33 run every few minutes between Praza Mayor and the stations. A tourist train makes four trips a day between Praza Mayor and the Outariz geothermal springs. Supermarket chains Gadis, Froiz and Eroski are dotted around the centre, all open Monday to Saturday 09:00–21:00.

Bars concentrate around Praza Mayor; Galician wine is mostly white and crisp, similar in style to Portuguese wine.