Private tours in Oporto & surroundings
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Program
Situated in the heart of Galicia, Santiago de Compostela is the spiritual and political capital of this beautiful province.
Many pilgrims follow the Road to Santiago, just as they do to Rome or Jerusalem. On this tour we visit Santiago de
Compostela. It's Cathedral, Obradoiro square, Catholic Kings Hotel and Raxoi Palace, etc.
Valença - Valença is a walled town located on the left bank of Minho River. Valença origins date back from
Roman times. This stronghold was populated by order of King Sancho I during the 12th century. It was called
Contrasta which means "village opposed to another", Tui (Spain) in this case.
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King Afonso III changed its name to Valença in the 13th century. It's historical importance is mainly due to military constraints. Today the town is invaded
by tourist visits, with commercial and touristic purposes. The most interesting things to visit are mainly inside the fortress that looks down to the Minho
River and Spain. Valença's fortress is a piece of gothic and baroque military architecture. It is placed on top of two small hills and it's formed by two
polygons.
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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.
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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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