Ribadeo

Ribadeo is a municipality in the Spanish province of Lugo in Galicia. It has a population of 10,023 (INE, 2011) and an area of 106.2 km2 (41.0 sq mi). It is the capital of the A Mariña Oriental comarca. The municipality of Ribadeo has approximately the shape of a 10x10 kilometer square. It is bordered to the north by the Cantabrian Sea, to the east by the Ribadeo estuary (on the other side of which is Castropol in Asturias), to the west by the municipality of Barreiros and to the south by that of Trabada. The capital of the municipality is the town of Ribadeo. There is one other town - Rinlo - and many small villages and hamlets. The highest point of the municipality is the mountain of Mondigo (571 m (1,873 ft)), in the parish of Cubelas. The first well-known settlements date from Iron Age such as the Gallaecian hillforts of Grovas, Fornelo, Meirengos, Cárcovas, Pumarega, Torre and Aira da Croa. All of them were inhabited by the Gallecian tribe of the Egovarri. During the 6th century the first texts referred to this county as part of Britonia. During the 13th century, Ribadeo received privileges from the king Ferdinand II. The town began as a settlement beside the estuary, occupying what are now the docks of Porcillán and Cabanela, and later expanded on to higher land. It had a wall - more for customs purposes than for defence - of which some remains are still preserved. Along with Viveiro and Mondoñedo, it was one of the three main medieval towns of the former province of Mondoñedo. It was granted a town charter by Fernando III, permitting a weekly market, which is still held. For a while the town was royal property and was then granted to a French nobleman, Pierre de Villeines, in recognition of his services to Enrique de Trastámara. After Villeines there were several further transfers of ownership; the county of Ribadeo became a possession of the House of Alba. The present Count, the twenty-seventh, is Carlos Fitz-James Stuart Martinez de Irujo. Ribadeo's peak as a town coincided with that of its port, being a focal point of the trade of Cantabria with the Baltic region: it was the only point of entry for imports of liquor (Kümmel) from the port of Riga. For this reason the beverage became known as Kúmel of Ribadeo. In the mid-nineteenth century the port went into decline due to competition from other ports such as Gijón. The coat of arms of the town is of medieval origin. It depicts waves of the sea on which are superimposed a golden key at an oblique angle and a silver star. The key symbolizes the town's incorporation into Galicia, and the star its northern location. Until the late seventeenth century the coat of arms lacked the star and the key was in the upright position. This older version can be seen carved in stone in 1699, in the chapel of the Virxe do Camiño, at which time it was already ancient.

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Ribadeo is it’s a stopover point on The Camino del Norte. You can reach Santiago de Compostela in 9 days.