046 - River Tea - Galicia/Spain

An old and important Ancient Roman road, with many ancient and medieval bridges still in daily use. This is an adventure along the banks of the River Tea, so let’s discover!

Click here to see the map

This journey starts in Southern Galicia region, exactly at the frontier with Portugal. Much of the trip can actually be done on foot, in one day (14,5km in total). It is a known trail, and depending on the weather or season, many tourists/travellers can be seen walking/biking on this same path. 

We are in Spain, and with the power of a 300mm zoom, I can see into Portugal’s - Valenca fortress, far in the distance, on top of fortified walls - see the article on Valenca - Portugal, here.

This is the River Minho and also the River Tea which is actually flowing into Minho, on the right side of these trees. 

On the left of the image, it is the Portuguese shore, and obviously I am standing on the Spanish-Galician shore now, taking this picture. Far in the distance, it is actually A Guarda (article here), the place where Minho River flows into the Atlantic Ocean.

The purpose of this journey, was to walk on the path next to river Tea and also take photos of the medieval bridges, up to the city Pontereas. 

The first bridge, is this rail bridge of the Redondela to Monforte de Lemos train route.

Closest train station to River Tea, at the frontier with Portugal, is at - Salvaterra de Mino.

Salvaterra de Mino is definitely worth visiting, especially the fortress – O Castelo da Ermida. From there, through the park, it does not take more than 5 minutes to join Rio Tea, and then the rail bridge from the previous image. 

Back on the route along the river Tea, we encounter the first Medieval bridge - Fillaboa Bridge. It was built in the 15th century with renovations done in the 17th and 21st century. It was an important defensive structure, made to protect against the Portuguese. 

The cutwater is visible (existing) only on one side of the bridge, the side with the water flowing towards it. 

On this bridge cars cannot pass. Also the pedestrian area is so beautiful with rocks and grass that it reminded me of Lugo (future article)! This image is the one that really motivated me to make this bridge in 3D for the article art piece. 

As I said before, Fillaboa bridge is the one I chose to model in 3D in Blender. I started with the generic shape, then added the arches and then made the rest. I still was wondering if I should do each stone or instead use a Brick node, but with all the trees and vegetation… I thought it is fine like this. 

Unlike the real Fillaboa bridge, on this one I decided to put a car on it to show that it is still very well built. I first tried with the “human” models that represent me and my wife, but it was a bit too hard to distinguish the shape so instead I put the “classic” Seat (Spanish car brand) on the bridge. 

Searching just for “Filaboa” (not “bridge of Filaboa”) most likely won’t show results with the medieval bridge, but instead show this Spanish Wine that has it’s origin here. While the address is Salvaterra de Mino, the vineyard is close to the bridge Filaboa. 

There are more bridges over the River Tea, some in fact are just stones that one can hop on to cross, when the water level is not too high (like during the mid summer). 

One of the fish species in this area, well known since the Ancient Roman days, are the Lamprey fish. Back in those days, legend says, that once fished, the Lamprey would be sent to Rome, alive, in a bowl of sorts, to be cooked “fresh”. 

Because they are important, and the route along the river, is literally named: The Lamprey Route -> I had to include this fish in my 3D art of this article.

In this image there is this wood platform, which in fact it is a “traditional” construction with the purpose of fishing, especially at nighttime (maybe those blue things are lights actually).

This is the Mimosa flower/tree and I love how bright and serene this image is and I wish I could remember what I felt when I saw this place the first time.

Anthemis - same yellow, yet darker background. 

While doing this walk alongside the river Tea, I could not stop thinking just how weird it is that on a “random” journey I decided to do, I also encountered quite a few people doing the same thing, either on bikes (most) or on foot with their families.

Ponte das Partidas - this is the second medieval bridge and it is quite far from the first one (some 10km up north). In fact I think most people park the car here (there is such a place) and then walk south towards the Portuguese frontier or even to Salvaterra de Mino. Probably nice idea would be to get in that city some food, a nice glass of wine, another bottle of water, and return, back to Partidas where the car is parked. 

Ponte das Partidas is the only bridge that allows for cars to pass. I think in the future this might have changed, as a new bridge was built just to divert the traffic from here. 

More information about this bridge, at the end of the article, at the legend card. 

Also, this bridge is of Ancient Roman origin, then remade to what looks like now, in the 15th, 17th and again in modern times. 

Plenty springs flow into the River Tea and in such case, I found this abandoned home, maybe an old watermill, with a little/very low stone bridge leading to it. 

Red seeded dandelion - the last 4 kilometres to Pontereas are still filled with lots of nature and occasions to make awesome images. Like here, I was trying to take a “macro” photo of this dandelion, while my wife…

…She was trying to get into focus and in one frame - four (4) Heath Fritillary butterflies that were sitting on the same flower (plant). I was stunned to see so many butterflies in one place, but even more, as sometimes five (5) would be for a few seconds, on the same flower. We got at most 4 in one image, but none is really in focus (only the little flowers) so yeah… fail. 

Ponte dos Remedios - the last bridge featured on this article and of course another medieval bridge. This bridge is also built on Ancient Roman foundations so it is a pedestrian only bridge. 

A beautiful daisy, on a dark background - I love how such a common flower, can still make for an awesome image.  This is the last image I took in Pontereas region and thus concludes this article. 

This route, the Lamprey Route, features three (3) medieval bridges, has a website and even an info panel - so is as legit as possible. I must say that the Lamprey fish are one ugly species of fish, especially the kind that attaches itself to other fish, and to think that they can grow up to 120cm… that is a lot. This route however is really beautiful and I am so happy to having done it! I see why families choose to walk along the River Tea from the literal border with Portugal, up to Pontereas. 

I do have one issue with Lamprey Route and that is -> Google. Back in 2018, when I was searching for Mondariz, on the internet, I saw these medieval bridges (featuerd in this article) and I told myself -> this I WANT TO SEE! Then we get here, I see this panel from Xunta de Galicia and… well there only 3 bridges - all good! Well NO! There are 4 bridges and the last one is in Mondariz - literally the next place I visited. I don’t get why this medieval bridge is not on the panel nor why it was not better advertised in Mondariz… anyway we will go back in the region with the kids (God help me achieve this) and then I will include that, and maybe rewrite this article.

So, do I recommend doing Lamprey route on foot? 

Yes, it is a beautiful walk, combined with Mondariz. Both can be done on one day, but a car is needed. There is literally Mondariz and Salvaterra de Mino, both that we recommend. Maybe do one in the morning, walk a bit in the nature, next to the river Tea, and then visit the other place afternoon. 

As always thank you for reading this article, and if it is just AI reading this… well - don’t lie!

MiDe.

Source: https://galiciaencantada.com/lenda.asp?cat=32&id=450