DIFFICULTY LEVEL:High. Steep slopes, rocky roads and obstacles. For the more adventurous.
To speak of dolmens is to make present its environment, that is, the Sierra del Barbanza or great mountain in whose skirts of the summits were established the settlements where the first inhabitants of this region made their life, celebrated their death, ritualized an afterlife projected to the West. In these mountains they built their temples in the form of Dolmen, which as the word itself indicates, has a mammary shape due to its roundness and because they usually appear in pairs; it is an artificial mound of earth that used to have a Dolmen inside. They were funerary temples in the middle of the villages; they were the center around which the life of the founders of Barbanza revolved: the daily life and the transcendent life. Hereafter (daily life) and Beyond (transcendent life) was regulated by the action and rite of the Dolmens, and these in turn, were governed by the solar and lunar path. The path of the sun and the moon that had its zenith in the mountain where they projected their light and their mystery, and that had its decadence in the sea. Hence the petroglyphs and dolmens have the West as a reference point: mountain and sea interact, regulated, like the hands of a clock, by the great stars (sun and moon) and countless small stars of the milky way. A journey through time and space, between the mountain and the sea. The Barbanza mountain range, then, is in turn like a great marmora, a great Arca, which looks to the West. In short, it is an ARCA DE OCCIDENTE. Climbing to the peaks of the Barbanza mountain range is to enter another world in which you are fascinated by the landscapes and views of the west, magically enveloped by nature with its streams and cattle, and enchanted by the stars and their relationship with the temples of more than five thousand years ago. And every now and then you will find magical inscriptions on the scattered petroglyphs. You will enter fully into the perception of the primitive imaginary in its relationship with the “beyond” and death and life in the “hereafter”.
The ARCA DE OCCIDENTE Route
The Route that we propose within the denomination ARCA DE OCCIDENTE, includes the three great megalithic monuments: Casota do Fusiño, Casota do Páramo and Arca del Barbanza. Just with these three great funerary temples we can contemplate more than 10 dolmens scattered on these soils that gave rise to the culture of the West.
Virtual tour, Knowledge and Audiovisual Training.
Pincheiro has a wide range of its own audiovisual materials that will introduce you to this route, and offer you an understanding of its meaning: history, astronomy, interpretation, spatial situation (vault of the sky, mountain and sea), and a journey through the time of history. The virtual tour in audiovisual form offers you the possibility of enriching the on-site tour. The virtual route allows you to cover everything that a face-to-face tour cannot do in time and place: countless impressive dolmens, extraordinary dolmens such as A Cova da Moura or Dolmen of Axeitos.
What is the ARCA DE OCCIDENTE route?
This virtual and audiovisual program will show you the Arca de Occidente Dolmen Route. This Arca Route begins in Noia and ends in Ribeira, marking an imaginary straight line between the Portus Apostoli and the Traslatio. All this knowledge is at your fingertips in Pincheiro’s digital classroom.
On-site tour, hiking and experience.
Carrying out the route in person. The route is done through a hiking trail on the peaks of Mount Barbanza. Itinerary: We start from the Portela above the Barbanza River to follow the route of the Iroite heights and contemplate the maritime horizon of the West with Finisterre in the background with the Ría de Muros Noia and on the other side the Ría de Arousa. From this unique balcony we will approach the visitor to the origin of the Petroglyphs and why. We will first visit the Casota do Fusiño and continue along the trails of the mountain to the Casota del Páramo near the military base of Iroite to return through the Barbanza soils following the course of the Barbanza river and visit in the heart of the mountain range the Arca del Barbanza, one of the great jewels of the western megalithic. Following the river we will arrive at the Portela, the starting point. Thus, we travel the central core of the route of the Arca de Occidente, which is completed with the total route that is in the virtual classroom. Details. The difficulty of the route is medium, and the distance to be covered is 13.50 km. With the analysis of the dolmens, the estimated duration of the tour is 3.30 hours. The route is located in the heights of the Barbanza mountain in the Iroite area. It is necessary to wear sports clothes, some warm clothes (depending on the day and the wind), very comfortable shoes and sun protection.
