The city and province of Pontevedra

Pontevedra is something of a conundrum. It is the provincial capital of the Pontevedra province, but it is far from the area's biggest city - that crown falls to Galicia's largest city of Vigo.

Despite this, Pontevedra is an interesting and enjoyable city to explore and it has a well defined, attractive and historically rich old district with plenty to see.

General information about Pontevedra

Although close to the coast, Pontevedra is still considered an inland city. One hundred years ago its estuary saw much in the way of fishing and seafaring traffic, but it has long since silted up and now the city relies on manufacturing and processing industries for its economic survival. Tourism also has an imprtant economic role in the summer months.

Conflict has played a significant part in Pontevedra's history with battles for dominance and provincal control with its neighbour Vigo, a far bigger and more highly populated urbanisation. Today Pontevedra's status is no longer in doubt, but many consider it more of a town than a city.

Buildings and historic monuments in Pontevedra city

Here are some ideas covering things to see and places to visit in Pontevedra.

Tip 1. Unlike Santiago, la Coruna and Lugo, Pontevedra has no iconic symbol associated with it. That said, it does have a few contenders for such a role and one of those is the Pilgrims church.

This highly symbolic building is almost circular when viewed from above and in today's world it is less practical and more representational than anything else. It has strong connections with the Santiago pilgrimage and this, along with its unique appearance, make it a must see building for all visitors to the area.

Tip 2. The city has several churches, in addition to the one described above, and again a couple of them have both visual and historic value.

Particularly worthwhile examples include, the church of San Bartolomeu, a 17th century building that is now incorporated into a continuous terrace of buildings, and the church of Saint Francis, a less than stunning building, but one with many historic connections to local noblemen of Pontevedra. This church is also situated to the side of the city's largest old square.

Tip 3. The Santa Maria cathedral is Pontevedra's most important piece of religious city heritage. It was built in, and using money from, the city's days as a major sea port. The building has had many additions over time and today has two very distinct facades. It also has some valuable artifacts within and plays a major role in some of the more important festival celebrations.



Tip 4. Many tourist to Pontevedra visit the musem complex spread over 3 main and 2 auxillary buildings. Most of the exhibits are regional, if not provincial, and the collection is regarded as being of national importance.

Tip 5. Like all Galician cities, Pontevedra has a number of plazas with history and historic buildings linked to them. One in particular, the Teucro, has a mythical connection with the ancient Greeks and a more tangiable connection with the city's heraldry which is carved into the granite walls of its surrounding buildings. It is regarded as the single most important area in Galicia for displaying the greatest number of heraldic stone etched sheilds.

Additionally, Pontevedra is quite possibly the best town or city in Galicia when it comes to atmospheric squares overlooked by bars and eateries. Most of these squares have their own distinct feel and they are equally sociable during the day or the night (which tends to run into the early hours of the following morning).

Commuting to Pontevedra and beyond

You reach Pontevedra from the UK by flying in to either Santiago de Compostela or la Coruna airports (Vigo and O Porto in Portugal are further options).

By car the Journey from Santiago will be less than an hour and approximately double that from la Coruna.

As a result of its compact nature and small size (for a city), Pontevedra can easily be explored on foot. Journeying along the surrounding coast and to the city of Vigo is best done by car.

Pontevedra sees plenty of foreign pilgrims on route to Santiago and lots of Spanish holiday makers from southern and central Spain. It is an interesting and worthwhile city to visit and probably only beaten in to second place by Santiago de Compostela.