Trips to sacred sites
From Santiago de Compostela it is easy to visit, on one-day trips, other important sacred sites in Galicia, a remote region of ancestral customs in which paganism and Christianity have always had a special relationship, dotted with Romanesque and baroque churches, magnificent monasteries and introspective convents.
Land of Pilgrims: Inspired Itineraries
Along the different roads of belief, even the profane visitor finds reasons to take the staff and travel in time.
Galicia is a land of thousand-year-old pilgrimages. The most popular spiritual sites are located in settings of great beauty, full of peace, which invite contemplating their architectural wonders...
Come to See Sacred Art
Apart from specific reasons, religious architectural heritage suggests numerous “destinations” throughout Galicia, which has countless religious sites classified as Protected Historic Monuments, many of which can be visited. From the humblest chapels to prestigious Cathedrals, every visitor will find something interesting in this exceptional inventory.
Naturally, cathedrals attract the greatest number of visitors, pilgrims and tourists: apart from in Santiago de Compostela, in Galicia there are also cathedrals in Tui, Ourense and Lugo. On the other hand, there are grand monasteries, each of which is worth visiting: Sobrado dos Monxes, Samos, Oseira, Monfero, Caaveiro, Carboeiro, Armenteira, Poio and many more...
Galicia’s main pilgrimage sites are:
San Andrés de Teixido
Finis Terrae, the end of the world for the Romans, is also the mystic end of the Way of St. James, which thereby reaches the Atlantic, on the rugged Costa de Morte. The pilgrimage to Muxía’s Marian sanctuary is related to the Jacobean tradition, to the Virgin, the patron saint of sailors, and to the ancestral worship of a giant oscillating stone, which can cure lumbar pains).
Road to Finisterre and Costa da Morte
Finis Terrae, the end of the world for the Romans, is also the mystic end of the Way of St. James, which thereby reaches the Atlantic, on the rugged Costa de Morte. The pilgrimage to Muxía’s Marian sanctuary is related to the Jacobean tradition, to the Virgin, the patron saint of sailors, and to the ancestral worship of a giant oscillating stone, which can cure lumbar pains.
Way of St. James
From the “pallozas” (thatched-roof dwellings) in O Cabreiro, at the entrance to Galicia, until it reaches Santiago, the French Way of St. James goes through rolling landscape, dotted with decisive monasteries in the history of the Way and towns that sprang up alongside it.
Jacobean Sea-River Pilgrimage
The sailing itinerary coincides with the one followed by the Apostle’s disciples, who transported his remains upriver.
Ribeira Sacra
This name, which means “Sacred Riverbank,” is due to the quantity of Romanesque monasteries and chapels that chose this impressive site in the River Sil basin for their solitary prayers. The beauty and magnitude of its canyons make them Galicia’s inland seas.
Image gallery
Trips to sacred sites
