Samos

Straying from the old road from Triacastela we get to SAMOS, whose abbey had an important role attending pilgrims.

The monastery may have been founded in the eighth century by Mozarabs coming from Andalusia. The building is baroque with a temple and two cloisters. It was greatly rebuilt after a great fire in 1951.
It was a very important spiritual and cultural centre and is even today a good place for having a working and secluded life in a remote valley that takes us back to the past.

Only the pre-Roman Capilla del Ciprés (Cyprus Chapel) is preserved from the first years.

Sarria

We are already near SARRIA and go back to the road at San Esteban de Calvor, the old Villa Calvaria. The parish church lies on a Pre-Roman hill fort. There was here a monastery long ago, which was founded by the priest Adilán in the eighth century.

Sarria is not mentioned in the Codex but the village Santi Michaelis is. This village might be the nearby prehistorical area of St Miguel. Sarria may be the Flavia Lambies mentioned by Ptolomeo. It was already a county in the 12th century...

The tower, which is the remain of the castle of the Counts of Sarria, lies on the top of the village. This fortress was built in the 14th century and pulled down on the 15th during the revolt of the Irmandiños.

In the surroundings of the tower, we can find the Romanesque Church of El Salvador, with rectangular ground. It already existed at the end of the 11th century. In the early 12th century, it was donated by doña Urraca to the bishop of Mondoñedo. In front of this temple lies the building where the pilgrims hospital of St Anthony was. It is thought to have been founded by the Count of Lemos.

The convent of Magdalena, which today belongs to the Mercedarian Fathers, has a Gothic-Elisabethan style church. The hospital attended the pilgrims.

St Lazarus Chapel is also on the road. It is the remain of an old leper hospital for ill pilgrims.

The Church of St Marina is on the lot of an old Romanesque Church.

We leave Sarria along the medieval bridge called Ponte Áspera and go to Barbadelo.