A Guarda, River Port

Overview

A Guarda, river port is…The Miño river, Mount Santa Tegra and the Atlantic Ocean watch over the municipality of A Guarda. The waters of the Miño provide substrates which flow out into the ocean right beside the Mount. Ecosystems that are home to knowledge linked to a river; ancient songs that still resonate today.

The estuary of the Miño is a place where two ecosystems live together in transition: the river (fluvial) and the sea (marine). The richness brought about by the exchange of salt and fresh waters in the tides allows a wide diversity of plant and animal species to grow and develop.

This is an area of connection and exchange between the two settlements located on either side of the river. In the past, there was a port here, where many goods were transported and various industries and institutions gave it significant importance: sawmills, lime kilns, warehouses, windmills, …

This route runs through the area of As Docas, the port of A Pasaxe, of which there are traces from Roman times. Boats docked there when the weather conditions made the port of A Guarda inaccessible. It was at its greatest splendour at the beginning of the 20^th century.

Today, we can see various shipyards devoted to the construction and repair of naval vessels. In this area, at the start of the 20^th century, there was a boom in naval construction. It was at the Astillero Minxos shipyard that the traditional boat O Piueiro, a volanteiro type vessel, was reconstructed by the Traditional Boat Association “O Piueiro”, who work to popularize the memory of the heritage of the sea.

This municipality played a significant historical role after the Spanish Civil War. In areas along the border between Galicia and Portugal, a kind of black market called the estraperlo re-emerged as a way of subsisting. In the 1930s and 40s, such subsistence was also called Pisco. From the 1950s up to the 1970s, it became more commercial in character, focusing on the transport of scrap metal, copper and other industrial materials. This was called Zocata.

Finally, we can walk beside the rock salt pans of A Lagoa, which date back to the Iron Age, when the communities living in the castros were in contact with the Roman Empire. It is possible that this salt was used for salting fish.

Immerse yourself with us in the waters of this land and its long history linked to the sea!

Highlights

• Estuary of the Miño River
• A Pasaxe harbour
• Boat Carpentry / O Piueiro Association
• River Fishing: lamprey, allis shad and eel
• Subsistence and the black market across the river
• Rock salt pans