Day tours in Oporto & surroundings
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Program
08:00h - Pick-Up at the Hotel
10:30h - Arrival at Santiago de Compostela
11:00h - Pilgrim Mass - Visit to the Historical Center - Free Time
13:00h - Lunch (Not Included)
14:30h - Departure to Viana do Castelo - Visit the Historical Center
17:30h - Departure to Oporto
18:30h - Expected arrival in Porto
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Description
Santiago de Compostela, the capital of Galicia, a beautiful, green land. The region is famed for its fine seafood and its excellent wines and the magnificent
Cathedral attracts thousands of pilgrims who walk the Camino de Santiago.
The ancient centre of Santiago ranks among Spain's most stunningly beautiful cities. A superb ensemble of twisting stone lanes, majestic squares and
ancient churches, interspersed with hidden nooks and crannies, its medieval core remaining almost entirely pedestrianized. Hewn from time-weathered
granite, splashed with gold and silver lichen and sprouting vegetation from the unlikeliest crevices, the buildings and plazas, arcades and flagstones blend
imperceptibly each into the next. Warrens of honey-colored streets wind past beautiful monasteries and convents, culminating in the approach to the
immense Praza do Obradoiro, flanked by the magnificent Catedral.
Everything of interest lies within the densely packed historic core – the zona monumental – which takes fifteen minutes to cross on foot but several days
to explore thoroughly. Most commercial activity is a short way south, in the less appealing modern quarter, which is also where the students tend to live.
Viana do Castelo, charmingly situated at the mouth of the Rio Lima below Monte de Santa Luzia, is an important harbor in the Costa Verde. Its attractive
townscape and good beaches also make it popular with tourists.
Viana do Castelo, with its many handsome Manueline and Renaissance mansions and palaces, with their ornate granite facades, recall the splendors of the
town's past, the Age of Discoveries. The most famous spots include: the elegant Praça da República with its unique arcaded building of the Igreja da
Misericórdia; the old town hall, the early 16th century Paço do Concelho, with its Gothic arches and Renaissance detail; the castle, Castelo de Santiago do
Barro also built in the 16th century; a 15th Century Cathedral that has a fortress-like feeling.
Largo 5 de Outubro on the Rio Lima, makes a good starting point for a tour round Viana do Castelo.
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In the Northwest of Spain, in the Celtic and green Galicia, tradition tells that there was the Apostle Santiago, brother of Juan the Evangelist. When he
returned to Palestine, in the year 44, it was tortured and beheaded by Herodes Agripa, and he prohibited that Santiago would be buried. However their
pupils, secretly, during the night, they transferred his body to the seashore, where they found a boat prepared to navigate but without crew. They deposited
the apostle's body in a marble sepulchre, which would arrive after its marine voyage, to river Ulla up to the Roman port of Flavia, in the Galician coast, the
capital of the Roman Galicia. There they buried his body in a compostum or cemetery in the near forest of Liberum Donum, where they built a marble altar.
In the year 813, the eremita Pelayo heard prays and songs in the place. Based on this event he called the place Campus Stellae, or Field of the Star, where
the current name of Compostela comes from. King Alfonso II proclaimed the apostle Santiago patron saint of the Kingdom, building a sanctuary there, that
later would end up as being the Cathedral. From then on, miracles and appearances would take place there, giving place to numerous histories and legends
to infuse the warriors that fought against the advances of Al-Andalus and to the pilgrims that little by little went the way to Santiago. From the XI century
onwards, Santiago exercised a strong attraction on the European Christianity and it was a center of pilgrimage, to which kings, princes and saints went to.
In the XII and XIII centuries, the city reached its maximum splendour. The Pope Calixto II granted to the Church Compostelana the Full Jubilee of the Holy
Year and Alejandro III declared it perpetual, becoming Santiago of Compostela “Saint City”, next to Jerusalem and Rome. The Holy Year takes place every
time that the Apostle's festivity, july 25th, falls on Sunday. Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia. Located in the
northwest region of Spain in the Province of A Coruña. The city's cathedral is the destination of the important medieval pilgrimage route, the Way of St
James (in Spanish the Camino de Santiago). Per year, over 100,000 pilgrims on foot, bicycle, donkey, or horseback come from over a 100 countries to
claim their certificate called a 'compostela', based on their pilgrim passport called a 'credencial', filled with stamps from the towns they passed along the
route. The credencial proves they have followed the route formally recognized by the "Pilgrim Association of St. James." One of the popular routes is the
Portuguese route or 'Camino Portugués' (starts at Oporto and continues northwards crossing the rivers Lima and Minho where it enters Spain. Still
heading north, the river Ulla is crossed at Padron before arriving at Santiago). The Cathedral of Santiago is the end of the pilgrim's journey and its
monumentality is worthy of such a deed. It is a key Romanesque work in which numerous architectonic styles converge, started in 1075. Santiago de
Compostela’s Old Quarter is often styled a ‘living museum’, with the Cathedral and other jewels placed in a magnificent setting of winding paved and
arcaded streets, granite walls and smaller monuments that create a superb ambience. The Cathedral itself is flanked by several celebrated squares – Praza
do Obradoiro, Praza das Praterias, Praza da Quintana and Praza da Inmaculada. Picturesque avenues and alleys radiate out from this centre, around
which the city developed, to the other squares and sights of the Old Quarter – the Convento de San Francisco, the University and the Praza de Cervantes.
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