Pontevedra

One Renaissance-era legend claims Pontevedra was founded by Teucer, a hero of the Trojan War who, rejected by his father Telamon, sailed to these shores and established a settlement called Helenes. A variant of the story says a mermaid named Leucoiña guided him there. The town hall façade still carries an inscription referencing this tradition.

The archaeological record is more sober: Bronze Age axes and two hill forts predate any documented settlement, but excavations find no real evidence of habitation before the Romans arrived. The city's Roman origins are debated. Older historians linked it to the mansio Ad Duos Pontes, but more recent scholarship points to Turoqua, meaning roughly "tower over the water", a stopping point on Roman road XIX, which connected Braga, Lugo and Astorga and crossed the river Lérez here.

That crossing stood near where the Burgo bridge stands today in the historic centre. By the medieval period the city appears in documents as Pontus Veteris, a direct reference to the old Roman bridge that had given it both its name and its reason for existing. A document from the monastery of Lérez, dated 1141, records the place name Pontus Veteri and notes the Roman bridge was already ruined and out of use.

A medieval replacement was built, the bridge visible today, with later modifications, and the Roman structure disappeared entirely. King Fernando II granted the town its charter in 1169, confirmed by Alfonso X in 1264. Royal privileges followed: a monopoly on sardine-fat production across Galicia and control of fish transport and drying in 1229, and designation as Galicia's main cargo port in 1452.

The city's walls were extended repeatedly as population and trade grew. Its peak of prosperity came under Enrique IV, who in 1467 granted a thirty-day free fair held in the Plaza de la Herrería, a tradition still commemorated today.

Pontevedra's old town was praised by The Guardian as a magnificent ancient city. Several monuments stand out. The ruins of Santo Domingo are the surviving apse end of a convent church, with five Gothic apses from the late medieval period that represent the purest Gothic work in Galicia.

Abandoned after 19th-century church disestablishments, the ruins were rescued by the Pontevedra Archaeological Society and declared a national monument in 1895. They now form part of the Provincial Museum. The Church of the Virgen Peregrina is the city's most recognisable landmark.

Built in the 18th century in baroque and neoclassical styles, it serves as patronal sanctuary of Pontevedra province and of the Portuguese Camino de Santiago. Its ground plan is shaped like a scallop shell, and its convex circular façade carries figures of the Virgin, St Joseph and St James, all dressed as pilgrims. The Church of San Francisco dates from the medieval period and retains a Romanesque façade with a rose window, the only remnant of the original construction.

Inside are notable medieval sarcophagi, including those of the poet and admiral Paio Gómez Chariño and his wife. The Church of San Bartolomé was built by the Jesuits between the 17th and 18th centuries in baroque style. Its retablos feature St Ignatius of Loyola, St Francis Xavier and St Francis Borgia, along with the city's patron image, the Virgen de la O.

It belonged to the Jesuit College, now called the Sarmiento Building and part of the city museum, which operated from 1650 until the Jesuits were expelled in 1767. Attached to the former convent of San Francisco is the only surviving gate of the city's medieval walls. The Capilla del Nazareno occupies the former chapel of a cloistered convent and houses a Christ figure that remains an object of deep local veneration.

The nearest major airport is Santiago de Compostela, 55 km north; Vigo airport, 30 km south, has flights from Madrid and Barcelona. Two direct trains a day run from Madrid Chamartín (3 hr 40 min via Zamora, Ourense and Vilagarcía); trains from A Coruña run every one to two hours (70 min via Santiago), continuing to Vigo. The station is 1 km southeast of the old centre, with a supermarket opposite.

Long-distance buses don't serve Pontevedra directly, travel via Santiago, then take an hourly local bus (about one hour). The bus station is beside the railway station. The old centre is compact and largely traffic-restricted, so walking is the practical choice.

Taxis wait at both stations and along the Alameda. Restaurants worth noting: Il Piccolo at Virxe do Camiño 16, La Ultramar at Padre Amoedo Carbillo 3, Casa Román at Av Augusto García Sánchez 12, Loaira at Praza da Leña 1, Eirado da Leña at Praza da Leña 3, and Icewolf at Dona Tareixa 4. Galician wines are mostly crisp whites, similar in style to Portuguese.

Bars are plentiful, serving tapas or full meals; in winter, hot chocolate with churros is a common offer.