Ribeira Sacra Route – Boat Trip and Visit to a Winery

Legend has it that the god Jupiter was so fascinated by the beauty of Galicia that he decided to possess it, crossing it with a river. And later, his wife Juno, angered by jealousy, inflicted a huge and deep wound, so that her husband would stop loving her. Even today we can contemplate that penetrating sore, the fruit of the envy of the goddess Juno: they are the canyons of the Sil river in the Ribeira Sacra, an area of ​​incomparable nature full of wonderful monasteries. There, where earth and man joined hands to create a unique wine, which is born on impossible slopes.

Designation of Origin Ribeira Sacra, heroic viticulture.

Ribeira Sacra is one of the five Wine Designations of Origin that we currently have in Galicia.

With an approximate area of ​​2,500 hectares mostly cultivated on almost impractical slopes, the wines of the D.O. Ribeira Sacra are included in the poetic expression of “heroic viticulture”. The orography of the landscape makes it impossible to mechanize the work in the vineyards, so the tasks are manual, practically acrobatic.

This type of cultivation, as well as the orientation of the vineyards and the land of these particular terraces, mark the personality of the D.O. Ribeira Sacra.

The rivers. 

Beyond the inspiring story of the gods Jupiter and Juno, the truth is that the rivers Miño and Sil, the most important in Galicia, are the architects of the unique orography that we find in the Ribeira Sacra. As its course passes, deep canyons are carved between mountains of significant unevenness, from whose heights we can contemplate this peculiar and enchanting landscape.

Both rivers are navigable and so wi will take a boat trip to contemplate their wonderful landscapes from inside. The waters are calm and the route is very pleasant. In this way we will also be able to see closely the spectacle of the terraces over the river, ancestral vineyards, many of them of roman origin, and that today belong to this D.O. Ribeira Sacra.  Then, we will visit two wineries to understand the dynamics of the production of these wines. And, of course, to taste them.

The monasteries.

The Ribeira Sacra is the area with the highest concentration of Romanesque-style buildings in all Europe, a true open-air museum, in an incomparable setting. From the first constructions, carved out of the rock, to imposing monastic ensembles this trip will leave us breathless as we travel, following the trail of the stones, and the fascinating history of this area.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

The Ribeira Sacra is Spain’s official candidacy for UNESCO World Heritage Site for the year 2021. Some of the reasons that consolidate this candidacy are: having the first documented monastic community of the Christian West, beeing a unique example of fifteen centuries of continued sacralization of the territory that today is preserved in a forest of churches and monasteries, and being an exceptional cultural landscape due to its territorial organization.

Departures from Santiago/Silleda/Lalín/Lugo/Ourense/Rías Baixas