Pontevedra Old Town

Pontevedra's old town is a compact granite quarter of squares linked by short streets, with the Gothic basilica of Santa Maria la Mayor built by the mariners' guild in the sixteenth century, and the church of the Peregrina, an eighteenth-century building on a plan shaped like a scallop shell, the pilgrim symbol, since the Camino Portugues passes through. What has made the city internationally known is a policy begun in 1999: private cars were progressively removed from the centre, parking moved to the edge, streets repaved at a single level and priority given to pedestrians, with results in reduced traffic deaths and emissions that have won it several international awards and a steady stream of visiting planners.

History

People probably began to gather around the old Roman bridge in the 9th century, and in 1169 Ferdinand II of León granted Pontevedra the status of a town. Its wall grew in three stages; in 1229 Alfonso IX gave the town an exclusive privilege for processing and distributing fish, and in the 16th century the Seamen's Guild built the Basilica of Saint Mary Major. The wall was pulled down between 1852 and 1875, and the historic centre was declared a historic-artistic complex in 1951 (Wikipedia, Old Town of Pontevedra).

Highlights

• The linked squares - a granite quarter of connected plazas.
• The Peregrina church - a building laid out on a scallop shell plan.
• Santa Maria la Mayor - a Gothic basilica built by the mariners' guild.
• The car-free centre - a pedestrianised quarter used as a planning model.

When to go

May, June, September and October; Galicia is wet in every season, and the covered arcades help. The city fills for its August fiestas. Weekday evenings show the pedestrianised centre working as intended.

Before you go

Pontevedra is a working provincial city with few conventional sights, and the interest is partly urbanistic. Rain is frequent. Museums keep long midday closures.

Nearby

Combarro lies seven kilometres west; the Rias Baixas beaches and Vigo are south.

Key facts