Pontevedra
Pontevedra, boa Vila.
On the Town Hall of Pontevedra we can see the inscription:

“Fundote Teucro valiente
de aquesta ría a la orilla
para que en España fueras
de villas, la maravilla”.
Cunqueiro spoke about an English traveller in the early 19th century called Milford who said about Pontevedra ‘a pleasant city placed on a hill’. Castroviejo referred to Pontevedra as museum-city stating that he did not know when he went into the museum and when he left the city. But we want to start our journey recalling the words of that French Duke who, being defeated in our Peninsular War, set fire to a district saying: "Your beauty disarms me!".
We are going to the city of the beauty that disarms. If Pontevedra was in the Middle Ages the business capital in the North-Wwest of Spain, today it is one of the most beloved urban wholes in Spain.
A long time ago, the sea route was the best access to Pontevedra and many sea routes finished here.
A long time ago, the sea route was the best access to Pontevedra and many sea routes finished here. But nowadays there is a greater variety, the modern motorway or roads that join the rest of Galicia, the railway, which was a great change for the urban Geography of this city, and three new bridges over the river.
The River Lérez. The waters of this river have crossed over half hundred km from Forcarei to reach this place. The rivers Alba and Tomeza join Lérez. And the estuary of Pontevedra is formed here.
Protected by the mountains Acibal, Castrove and da Fracha, Pontevedra has been always a crossroads.
The first inhabitants lived in Palafitos, on the banks of the river Lérez. Then they lived in a town protected by the nearby hill fort, which was also a sanctuary. Finally they lived on a harbour, which was the heart of the city for many centuries and was first dedicated to tin, then to fishing and finally to business. And here arrived Arabs and Normans, English and French, Berber and Turks looking for wealth.
We go to Pontevedra along the road coming from Santiago.
There are three possible entrances and we take that of the old Burgo Bridge leaving the modern service area on the left and the housing estate called A Caeira on the right.
From the administrative point of view, this area belongs to Poio but it has a direct connection with Pontevedra.
We have chosen this route because of history. In the 12th century Pontevedra was called Ponte Veteris or Burgo de Ponte Veteris, the old bridge.
Next to the bridge appeared the first inhabited settlement, where travellers were attended.
The bridge had four arches between two towers. The leitmotif on the city’s coat of arms recalls this bridge.
In the Roman itinerary Per Loca Maritima by Antonio Pío, Pontevedra was the third Mansion... It was called Ad Duos Pontes...
There is doubt about whether the first of those bridges was "Sampayo Bridge" or "do Couto bridge" over the river Tomeza. But what is certain is that the other one was the present - day "do Burgo bridge", the old bridge, Ponte Veteris, the first natural entrance to Pontevedra.
The present-day medieval bridge was altered owing to different modifications but it is doubtless the successor of the bridge that in 1165 was the scenery of the signing of the peace treaty between the Kings Alphonso of Portugal and Ferdinand of Leon. It may be also the same bridge that in the late 14th century was “Muy buen lugar para los que quisiesen hacer armas por amor de sus amigas, ca todas las dueñas e doncellas de Pontevedra eran a mirar por el adarve de la villa“.
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