8:25 AM – Muxía: Hostal La Cruz - sunrise
from our window (with rail of Paseo Maritimo promenade).
8:25 AM – Muxía: Hostal La Cruz - sunrise
from our window (without rail of promenade).
We ate breakfast (3.50€ each) at Hostal La Cruz: coffee/hot chocolate; tostadas con tomate y aciete; and some tostadas with marmalade.
9:38 AM – Muxía: Hostal La Cruz – owner in
bar for breakfast.
Then we started out on Avenida López Abente and the Paseo Maritimo toward the Tourist Office. On the way, we passed the monument to the local poet Gonzalo López Abente (1878-1963).
10:44 AM – Muxía: near Hostal La Cruz – view
toward Santa María church and Monte Corpiño; marina at left.
10:46 AM – Muxía: monument to local poet
Gonzalo López Abente, with Virgin and Child at top.
12:11 PM – Muxía: Oficina de Turismo –
requirements for Muxiana certificate: Don did not know that it was necessary to
get sellos in Santiago, Negreira, and
Olveiroa, but he had them anyway.
Muxía: Muxiana Certificate (Scanned).
Then we walked along the shoreline promenade Paseo Maritimo to Igrexa de Santa María for the noon mass (in Castilian Spanish).
11:15 AM – Muxía: Paseo Maritimo – beach in
front of Hostal La Cruz at low tide.
11:17 AM – Muxía: Paseo Maritimo – view N
across marina to Igrexa de Santa María and Monte Corpiño (focal length 24 mm).
11:17 AM – Muxía: Paseo Maritimo – View N
across marina to Monte Corpiño and, below it to right, Igrexa de Santa María
(telephoto, 90 mm).
MT 11:24 AM – Muxía: Paseo Maritimo – Don by
marina, with Monte Corpiño in background.
MT 11:24 AM – Muxía: Paseo Maritimo – MT (with
walking poles) by marina, with Monte Corpiño in background.
11:27 AM – Muxía: Paseo Maritimo – seagull on
rock in marina, with black “mini-clams.”
We went to Sunday noon mass at the 13th-century Igrexa Parroquial de Santa María (Parish church of Santa María). The mass was in Castilian Spanish. There was large choir loft with an organ. The church was packed, and three parishioners didn’t find a place in the pews; so they went up front and sat on benches to the right of the altar. There was a grandfather clock on the altar by the ambo, at the end of Mass, the assembly clapped for the choir.
This small Igrexa de Santa María is a
Gothic construction with reminiscences of the Romanesque. It is built on
a rock at the northern foot of Monte Corpiño (= mount bodice). It was donated
in 1203 to the Cistercian monastery of Carracedo by Pope Innocent III. The
church belongs to a Romanesque transition, formed by a single nave with wood roof
and divided into three sections by two pointed arches supported on columns
attached to the side walls. The apse is rectangular, ascending to it by a
pointed triumphal arch, supported, like the other three that treman [tremble, shake?] the vault, on
semi-column capitals decorated with different motifs. [Translation here was
difficult.]
The main door of the church,
which leads to the old Camino leading to the Santuario da Virxe da Barca, it is
also a pointed arch, with archivolts adorned with molding and supported on two
columns with two capitals of marble, which some authors consider to be of Roman
origin. The tympanum is smooth, with carved corbels, one similar to the figure
of a friar.
On the south side of the church
there are buttresses that help to strengthen the walls. On the same side of the
church, in the place where they built a few niches, was the chapel of the
Incarnation. This square chapel, with a door of semicircular arch, was a work
of the 16th century.
Attached to the north wall is the
Capela do Rosario (Capilla del
Rosario, Chapel of the Rosary),
in Gothic style, which can be accessed from the inside of the church through a pointed
door. Built at the end of the 14th century, of rectangular form, covered with a
vault in which its diagonal arches are supported at each corner by corbels
finished in capitals.
A bell
tower is separated from the church and elevated on some rocks.
11:37 AM – Muxía: steps from marina level up
to Igrexa de Santa Maria.
MT 11:37 AM – Muxía: Don on steps from marina
level to Igrexa de Santa Maria.
11:39 AM – Muxía: Igrexa de Santa Maria – separate
bell tower on rocks above, facing the church façade.
11:39 AM – Muxía: Igrexa de Santa Maria –
south side of church before mass (parishioners were waiting outside before
mass).
12:46 PM – Muxía: Igrexa de Santa Maria – altar
area (with grandfather clock at left); before and after mass, people went
through door at left to buy candles; for mass, 3 parishioners who didn’t find
seats in the nave went up and sat on the benches to the right of the altar.
MT Friday, September 26, 2014, 8:23 PM – Muxía: Igrexa de Santa Maria do
Muxía – sacristan at altar.
MT Friday, September 26, 2014, 8:23 PM – Muxía: Igrexa de Santa Maria do
Muxía – window shows thickness of walls; statue of Santiago Peregrino below
window.
2:27 PM – Muxía: Igrexa de Santa Maria do Muxía
– apse (lower roof of altar area) at left and north side with Chapel of the
Rosary wing (from path on way back down from Monte Corpiño).
After mass, we proceeded up onto Monte Corpiño, where we saw the Santuario de Nostra Señora da Barca, the magical stones in front of it, and had a great view of the sea.
The
origin of the Santuario de Nostra
Señora da Barca (Sanctuary
of Our Lady of the Boat) was connected
with the monks of Moraime, who Christianized the present site of the shrine in
a place of old pagan rites related to fertility. The legend of the appearance
of the Virgin to the apostle Santiago led to the assimilation by Christianity
of those old beliefs by making the stones where the ritual was carried out, into
the elements of the vessel that, according to the legendary story, transported
to the Virgin to this place.
In the middle of a flat rocky
area in front of the church is a collection of large rocking stones, known as A
Barca (the Boat), is the object of magical and religious cult. The most known
among them is the Pedra de Abalar, which according to Christian tradition is
the boat in which the Virgin arrived at Muxía. Its miraculous powers are
related to fertility. It was damaged by a storm in early 2014. Near it is A Vela
(the Sail), also known as Pedra dos Cadris, which is said to be the petrified
sail of the divine boat. The faithful are supposed to pass nine times under its
surface in order to cure back pain. Also nearby is O Timón (the Rudder), the
third piece of the Virgin’s boat preserved in stone; it guarantees fertility to
women.
Since the Middle Ages, this place
has been converted into an emblematic destination of pilgrims arriving in
Santiago and desiring to continue to what was considered the “end of the
earth.”
The origin of the church is lost
in history. It is believed that a first church may have existed in this place
in the 11th century; however, the first references to the current basilica are
from the 16th century. In the form of a Latin cross, the style is Baroque. The casa rectoral (rectory) that adjoins the
church and the separate bell tower date from the 19th century.
The roof and interior of the Santuario
de A Nosa Señora da Barca were destroyed by fire started by lightning in fierce
weather in December 2013.
MT Friday, September 26, 2014, 12:35 PM – Muxía: sign in Galego and English
near Santuario de Nuestra Señora da Barca – English part [with modifications
based on the Galego part]: “Tradition has it that the Virgin Mary reached this
spot in a stone boat [the spot on which] today [is] the Shrine of A Barca – to
spur on the Apostle Saint James and his preaching. This is the reason why Muxía
has close ties with the Apostle and the pilgrimage to Santiago, and has been
included in the Pilgrims’ Way since the Middle Ages.”
MT Friday, September 26, 2014, 1:16 PM – Muxía: Santuario de Nuestra Señora
da Barca, behind another stone building – from parking lot.
MT Friday, September 26, 2014, 1:21 PM – Muxía: Santuario de Nuestra
Señora da Barca (with scaffolding) and view of sea.
2:08 PM – Muxía: Santuario de Nuestra Señora
da Barca – façade.
2:08 PM – Muxía: Santuario de Nuestra Señora
da Barca – separate bell tower and other building left of church.
As we started toward the path up to the peak of Monte Corpiño, we passed the modern stone sculpture called A Ferida (The Wound). The area also has a number of walking routes, all offering breathtaking views of the ragged shoreline of Muxía.
MT Friday, September 26, 2014, 1:24 PM – Muxía: A Ferida (The Wound) stone
sculpture and Camino marker stone.
1:03 PM – Muxía: MT with A Ferida (The Wound)
stone sculpture and Camino marker stone.
MT 1:05 PM – Muxía: A Ferida (The Wound) stone
sculpture (with Don prying the stones apart).
We went on up a winding stone path to the summit of Monte Corpiño, where we had great views all around from the mirador (overlook, viewpoint). We stayed there for over half an hour. Both of us took photos, and MT had also been there on Friday. [So the photos below are a mix of Don’s and MT’s, and those taken from the top are arranged in a logical order, proceeding from views of the marina around clockwise and back to the marina.]
1:04 PM – Muxía: Santuario de Nuestra Señora da
Barca on sea from partway up path to peak of Monte Corpiño.
1:38 PM – Muxía: breakers and Santuario de
Nuestra Señora da Barca on sea from peak of Monte Corpiño.
1:27 PM – Muxía: A Ferida (The Wound) stone
sculpture and Santuario de Nuestra Señora da Barca from peak of Monte Corpiño.
MT 1:14 PM – Muxía: Don at peak of Monte
Corpiño.
MT Friday, September 26, 2014, 1:34 PM – Muxía: small purple flowers on
rocks of Monte Corpiño.
1:14 PM – Muxía: close-up of small purple flowers
on rocks of Monte Corpiño (macro, focal length 24 mm).
1:14 PM – Muxía: greater close-up of small
purple flowers on rocks of Monte Corpiño (macro, focal length 24 mm).
MT 1:15 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – MT at top
with Santuario de Nuestra Señora da Barca on sea in background.
MT 1:22 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – Don and MT
on way down from peak to stone cross.
1:26 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – MT with view
over marina and town of Muxía in background.
MT 1:16 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – Don with
view over marina and town of Muxía in background; cross and Monte Corpiño sign
to Don’s right.
MT 1:21 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – Don and MT
with view over Muxía in background.
1:23 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – view of
marina and town of Muxía from cross on Monte Corpiño (horizontal).
MT Friday, September 26, 2014, 1:32 PM – Muxía: view of marina and town
from cross on Monte Corpiño (vertical).
1:18 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – view of marina
and town of Muxía; Monte Corpiño sign at right, with cross to its left.
1:24 PM – Muxía: view from Monte Corpiño over
cliff, down to Igrexa de Santa María rooftop, with bell tower and cemetery to
right; beginning of marina sea wall on upper right.
1:18 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – view of marina
(enclosed by sea walls) and town; bell tower and cemetery of Santa María at
bottom left.
MT Friday, September 26, 2014, 1:31 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – view of
Muxía town, with water on both sides of peninsula.
1:18 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – view to SW
along coast W of Muxía toward Punta de Buitra point across Playa de Lourido.
1:17 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – edge of Muxía town
and stone walls on coast to SW; the lady at tourist office didn’t know what
these were, but the waitress at Restaurante La Cruz said they were for huertas (gardens) long ago.
1:28 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – MT and stone
garden walls to SW.
1:32 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – stone garden
walls to SW.
1:29 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – winding stone
path back down to Santuario de Nuestra Señora da Barca.
MT 1:33 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – Don at top
of stone path.
MT 1:33 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – MT at top of
stone path.
MT 1:34 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – MT at top
of stone path.
1:17 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – view of path
(at left) back down to Santuario de Nuestra Señora da Barca on sea.
1:17 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – view of
Santuario de Nuestra Señora da Barca and toward lighthouse on other side of Ría
de Camariñas bay.
MT Friday, September 26, 2014, 1:33 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – view to NW
across Ría de Camariñas bay.
1:18 PM – Muxía: Monte Corpiño – view toward
marina with first part of sea wall and up toward another town (Merexo?).
The Punta da Barca is where the Santuario de Nuestra Señora da Barca is
located. However, the main and most famous tourist attraction of Muxía is an
oddly shaped stone that sits on an outcrop of rock
sandwiched
between the church and the ocean. Down
the stairs from the church are the mythical Pedra dos Cadrís (Stone of the Rumps) and Pedra de Abalar (Stone of Speaking) that Christianization
reinterpreted as parts of the vessel that transported the Virgin to this place.
sandwiched
between the church and the ocean. Down
the stairs from the church are the mythical Pedra dos Cadrís (Stone of the Rumps) and Pedra de Abalar (Stone of Speaking) that Christianization
reinterpreted as parts of the vessel that transported the Virgin to this place.In front of the church, we met a family who helped us find the mythical stones: the father was Galego (Galician); the mother was from Ecuador, and the daughter Silvana spoke English and took photos for us.
Nearby was the mythical Pedra de Abalar (Stone of Speaking), an oscillating stone that rocks when people stand on it to indicate whether they are telling the truth. Silvana’s family told us that, unfortunately, the stone had been damaged when too many people stood on it.
1:42 PM –
Muxía: Punto da Barca – breakers on rocks below church (but no big splashes in
photo).
MT 1:43 PM –
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT and Don on grass near the rocky shore.
MT 1:45 PM –
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT and Don on “porch” in front of church, overlooking
rocky shore; Pedra dos Cadris (aka A Vela) in background.
MT 1:45 PM –
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT and Don on “porch” in front of church, overlooking
rocky shore (wider angle).
MT 1:48 PM – Muxía: Santuario
de Nuestra Señora da Barca – Don and MT below the façade.
1:54 PM –
Muxía: façade and left (north) side of Santuario de Nuestra Señora da Barca
from big rocks below.
MT 1:52 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – Don and Silvana on big rocks below church.
1:54 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT and Silvana’s mother by Pedra de Abalar (on left),
with lighthouse in background.
MT 1:52 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT and Don standing on Pedra de Abalar, with lighthouse
in background.
2:02 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT standing on Pedra de Abalar, with lighthouse at
right.
MT 2:04 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT standing on Pedra de Abalar, trying to rock it.
Nearby was the Pedra
dos Cadris, also reputed to have magical powers.
1:55 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – Pedra dos Cadris.
The Pedra dos Cadrís (aka A Vela – the
Sail) is allegedly the petrified sail of the divine boat. Pilgrims do not pass
without doing the ritual of passing nine times under it in order to cure back
pain. The
shape and position of this long, narrow and slightly curved stone is such that
a human being can easily stand beneath it, and this has led to one of Galicia's
many folk stories evolving around it. It is claimed that the stone has
everything from healing powers (relieving kidney pain) to assisting in the
conception of children, and all achieved simply by standing or crouching
beneath it.
True or otherwise, the stone is
now quite famous and its position, in front of the crashing waves of the sea,
makes it quite a spectacle. There is a festival that includes references to the
stone and its powers which takes place annually on the mountain (Monte Corpiño)
above the adjacent church.
MT 1:51 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – Don and MT next to Pedra dos Cadris.
2:01 PM - Muxía:
Punto da Barca – view under Pedra dos Cadris.
After Silvana’s father crawled under the stone to show us, MT went next.
1:56 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT starting under Pedra dos Cadris.
1:56 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT going under Pedra dos Cadris.
1:56 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT almost through going under Pedra dos Cadris.
1:57 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT emerging from under Pedra dos Cadris.
Then Don went under the stone once.
1:58 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – Don starting under Pedra dos Cadris.
1:58 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – Don going under Pedra dos Cadris.
MT 1:59 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – Don going under Pedra dos Cadris.
1:59 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – Don still going under Pedra dos Cadris.
1:59 PM - Muxía:
Punto da Barca – Don almost through going under Pedra dos Cadris.
2:00 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – Don almost through going under Pedra dos Cadris.
2:00 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – Don emerging from under Pedra dos Cadris.
Then MT went under a second time.
MT 2:01 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT entering far side of Pedra dos Cadris.
MT 2:02 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT going under Pedra dos Cadris.
MT 2:02 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT crawling under Pedra dos Cadris.
MT 2:02 PM -
Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT almost through going under Pedra dos Cadris.
MT 2:02 PM - Muxía: Punto da Barca – MT emerging from under Pedra dos Cadris.
Going under the stone didn’t help either of us. (Maybe we needed 9 times, as Don read later.)
After seeing and trying the mythical stones, we just watched the breakers on the shore of Punto da Barca.
2:05 PM
- Muxía: Punto da Barca – rocks and breakers on shore.
MT 2:05 PM
- Muxía: Punto da Barca – rocks and breakers on shore.
2:04 PM
- Muxía: Punto da Barca – rocks and breakers (telephoto, 135-mm).
MT 1:52 PM - Muxía: Punto da Barca – rocks and breakers on shore (best shot of
spray).
MT 2:06 PM - Muxía: Punto da Barca – Don with rocks and breakers on shore.
MT 2:08 PM - Muxía: Punto da Barca – flat rocks on shore.
MT Friday, September 26, 2014, 1:13 PM
- Muxía: Punto da Barca – Faro da Barca (from near church).
2:16 PM
- Muxía: Punto da Barca – Faro da Barca with lighthouse of Cabo Vilán across
Ría de Camariñas bay.
Opposite Faro da Barca across the
bay to the north is the lighthouse on Cabo
Vilán. Cabo Vilán (Galego for Cape Villain – due to bad currents and many
shipwrecks) is a rock-bound peninsula to the northwest of the town of
Camariñas. The lighthouse indicates one of the most dangerous sections of the
Coast da Morte. It is the oldest electric lighthouse in Spain.
2:02 PM
(Cropped) - Muxía: Punto da Barca –Cabo Vilán, with lighthouse and
wind turbines, across Ría de Camariñas bay and Faro da Barca in foreground.
Then we went back through town to the beach in front of Hostal La Cruz.
2:45 PM – Muxía: rock with black “mini-clams” on
rocks of beach near Hostal La Cruz.
2:45 PM – Muxía: close-up of black
“mini-clams” on rock (close-up).
2:46 PM – Muxía: close-up of black
“mini-clams” on rock with MT’s hand to show size.
2:46 PM – Muxía: more black “mini-clams” on
rocks of beach near Hostal La Cruz.
2:46 PM – Muxía: close-up of black “mini-clams”
on those rocks of beach (macro 24 mm).
2:47 PM – Muxía: more close-up of black
“mini-clams” on rocks of beach (macro 24 mm, but closer).
MT 2:48 PM – Muxía: Don taking close-up of black
“mini-clams” on rocks of beach near Hostal La Cruz.
MT 2:48 PM – Muxía: Don standing by black
“mini-clams” on rocks of beach with Hostal La Cruz in background.
MT 2:48 PM – Muxía: Don standing on beach with his Muxía brochure with map.
MT 2:48 PM – Muxía: MT standing on beach near
Hostal La Cruz.
We got back to Hostal La Cruz around 3 pm. The owner and her family were eating lunch. So we came back down at 4 pm for our big meal of the day—a late lunch—in their restaurant. The owners’ visiting son, who was from Vigo, helped us by recommending a good hotel for the center of Vigo for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights and another near the airport for our last night; he called them for us and made reservations.
This time, for a late lunch, we got the 12€ menu: 1st course: MT sopa crema de verduras [cream of vegetable soup)/Don caldo gallego (both came in big serving bowls and we each filled our bowls 3 times, sharing one bowl of each kind); 2nd course: MT cordero (lamb chops)/Don ternera (roast veal) with a big salad to share (vice patatas fritas); dessert: MT yogurt/Don tarta de Santiago; red wine, bread. We got their sello: “Hostal-Restaurante La Cruz – Manuel Martinez Santos.”
4:01 PM – Muxía: Restaurante La Cruz: MT at
table in dining room, with view of sea.
4:01 PM (Edited) – Muxía: Restaurante La Cruz:
MT at table in dining room (edited to show MT by window).
4:01 PM – Muxía: Restaurante La Cruz: MT at
our table, facing the window with view of sea.
4:19 PM – Muxía: Restaurante La Cruz: Viña do
Val wine, MT’s pork chops and the salad we shared.
4:20 PM – Muxía: Restaurante La Cruz: Don with
caldo gallego still in bowl and his
veal stew on platter.
4:20 PM – Muxía: Restaurante La Cruz: Don’s
veal.
4:21 PM – Muxía: Restaurante La Cruz: MT’s
pork chops and our shared salad.
Back in our room, Don checked the wear on his walking shoes, and MT took another sunset photo.
MT 8:24 PM – Muxía: Hostal La Cruz: sunset from
our room.
This looked a lot like the sunrise photo she took that morning, almost exactly 12 hours earlier.
MT 8:25 AM – Muxía: Hostal La Cruz - sunrise from our window (with rail of Paseo Maritimo promenade).
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