La Toja Bridge

About this heritage

Since 1907, the Gran Hotel La Toja has been exploiting the waters and thermal muds with the beneficial properties found on the island. This Hotel, managed by the Marqués de Riestra, has hosted illustrious guests such as the Rockefeller brothers, Henry Kissinger, the King and Queen of Spain, Ortega y Gasset or Gabriel García Márquez, just to mention a few..

The A Toxa bridge was built between 1909 and 1914 to connect the peninsula of O Grove and the island, and was restored to its original form in the 2000s. Its distance, although less than 400 metres, was a challenge for the engineers, and at the time it was the longest bridge in Europe.

It was inaugurated on July 28th, 1910. For the occasion, and in order to promote the el Gran Hotel Balneario, a group of English journalists were invited, who drove in single file over the bridge. The advantage of these journalists was based on the type of tourism travelling from northern countries of that time.

The hotel was designed by Daniel Vázquez-Gulías Martínez, who was from Orense. It was inspired on the great thermal stations of that time in Germany or France. Two pavilions were built, one for the rooms and the other one for the casino, which were connected via a gallery. The interior decoration had frescoes in the halls and staircases.

In 1945 the building was almost completely refurbished, knocking down the towers. Only the staircase, the windows, which reminisce previous times and some columns, were kept. The rooms were renovated, but the old furniture was kept.

To learn more

The bridge was built by the engineer Mr. González and assisted by the engineers Mr. Cola and Mr. Guirmudia, from the Sestao construction company. The architectonic work is ofa modernist nature, it has several spans and slender lanterns and has a total of 35 arches. The bridge rests on concrete piers built as palisades. It follows the typology of the wooden bridges and is white in colour.

The importance of this bridge resides in the fact that it was the first bridge in Galicia made of reinforced concrete. At first the locals did not trust this new material, accustomed to other materials such as stone and bricks. But the result was amazing and at the time was the longest bridge built in Europe.

In 1841, the botanist Antonio Casares had discovered magnesium, sodium, iron and calcium in the waters of the island. He assured that they flowed at a temperature of 30 and 60 degrees Celsius and that they would be ideal for curing diseases.

The Marquis of Riestra saw a business opportunity in turning this place into a spa. This directly influenced the development of tourism in the area, as for the moment thermal tourism was booming in countries such as France and Germany and gave way to the development of other types of tourism such as nature, nautical or gastronomic.

The tourists of this time belonged to the high society, and demanded luxury tourism. As time went by, urbanizations, golf courses and other hotel establishments were created.

A promenade can be enjoyed from the centre of O Grove, bordering the riverbank and overlooking the Arousa estuary. At low tide you can see how the shellfish workers work and, depending on the time of year, you can see sea birds looking for shelter and food in the estuary.

After crossing the A Toxa Bridge, you can continue bordering the island with its wide green gardens, well-kept streets lit up by white lanterns and discover the church of San Sebastián, completely decorated with scallop shells.

To know it better

La Illa de A Toxa, known in Galicia as "La illa de Louxo o La illa da Toxa Grande", is an island with 47 inhabitants. It is very close to the town of O Grove, capital of the municipality with the same name, in the province of Pontevedra. The island can be reached by boat or by crossing the bridge.

The word Toja refers to a place with mud; that is, an area of soft and viscous mud. In fact, the therapeutic muds of the thermal springs of the island itself have been related to it.

The bridge that connects the Illa de A Toxa with the town centre of O Grove was the longest in Europe when it was built. This project, which involved connecting a distance of about 500 metres, was a great challenge for the engineering and architectural sectors at the time, between 1909 and 1914. This gave way to the creation of a white modern design bridge with a total of 35 arches. This construction underwent a complete refurbishment during the first decade of the year 2000.