Jacobean Route of the Sea of Arousa. Roman bridge. Way of Saint James. Pontecesures

About this heritage

The Jacobean route of the Sea of Arousa and the river Ulla, reminds us of the arrival of the Santiago Apostle´s body on our shores. This fluvial route goes through 22 municipalities belonging to the provinces of Pontevedra and A Coruña, which are also members of the “The Jacobean route of the Sea of Arousa and the river Ulla Foundation”.

The ports of Ribeira and O Grove mark the entrance to the Arousa´s estuary, through whose waters the apostle Santiago arrived from the port of Jaffa (Palestine) as is clear from ancient Christian traditions and various medieval texts. The body of Santiago sailed along the Arousa estuary and went up the Ulla river to Padrón, the river port of the Roman city of Iria Flavia.

The route is marked out with 17 works of art in stone constituting the only maritime Via Crucis in the world.

The Roman bridge of Pontecesures, rises over the Ulla river and joins the two provinces of Pontevedra and A Coruña. This bridge was built according to some historians in the first century by Caesar Augustus. This bridge, which underwent major renovations by Master Mateo in the 12th century, is part of the Portuguese Way to Santiago.

The tourist, gastronomic and cultural offer that we can find in the previously described towns that form the Jacobean Route of the sea of Arousa is very wide; religious monuments, pazos (traditional Galician manor houses), cruceiros (traditional Christian stone crosses), hórreos (traditional raised granaries), mills, vineyards, endless beaches, trekking routes, etc.

To learn more

Every summer, since 1965 when the first ski lift began, sailors of the area decorated several boats to participate in the maritime-fluvial procession to Pontecesures and Padrón. It is the The Maritime-Fluvial route along the sea of Arousa and the Ulla River that commemorates every year the arrival of Santiago Apostle to Galicia.

The 22 municipalities that make up the Jacobean Route of the Sea of Arousa could be listed as follows: to the south of the estuary: Sanxenxo, Meaño, O Grove, Cambados, Meis, Ribadumia, Vilagarcía de Arousa, Arousa island, Vilanova de Arousa, Catoira, Valga and Pontecesures. To the north of the estuary: Ribeira, A Pobra do Caramiñal, Boiro, Rianxo, Dodro and, finally, the section, already on foot, from Padrón to Santiago de Compostela: Padrón, Rois, Brión, Ames and Santiago de Compostela.

The route runs through breath-taking coastal landscapes, dreamy beaches and a rich ethnographic history. Internationally famous vine crops such as the prized Albariño. . . , a journey full of surprises such as the islands of Ons, Sálvora, Toxa or Arousa island.

Pontecesures belongs to Caldas region, it is an independent town council since only 70 years ago. It has only one parish, San Xulián, and 13 population entities. In this municipality we can visit the viewpoints of Piñeiro Manso and Galiñeiro. We can visit different monuments and sculptures, as well as crossroads and churches.

To know it better

The Portuguese Jacobean Route in Galicia traditionally begins in Tui, passing through O Porriño, Redondela, Pontevedra, Caldas de Reis, Valga, Pontecesures or Padrón. In the last few years, variants of the Way have been created: the Coastal Way, from A Guarda to Pontevedra, and the other Way, the Spiritual of Salnés. The latter leaves Poio and extends to Vilanova de Arousa and from there to Pontecesures.

The Jacobean Maritime-Fluvial route along the sea of Arousa and the Ulla River, also known as the Traslatio Route, commemorates the arrival by sea to Galicia of the Apostle Santiago el Mayor´s body, after his martyrdom in Jerusalem. According to legend, this boat route arrives approximately at the current municipality of Padrón guided by an angel and a star.

In 1963, The Jacobean route of the Sea of Arousa and the river Ulla Foundation proposed the Traslatio through the Sea of Arousa and the River Ulla and it was declared of cultural and Galician interest by the Xunta de Galicia in 1999. In addition, this route also provides the nautical charts necessaries to obtain the institutional document “traslatio xacobea" (Jacobean traslatio).

Pontecesures is a municipality located in the province of Pontevedra, more specifically in Caldas region. Until 1926 it was a parish of the neighbouring municipality of Valga.