The Neira River shapes the landscape of Baralla. On its banks is the Área Recreativa Manuel González Capón, which has a promenade. Here, the riverside setting is combined with practical ways to take a break and enjoy outdoor leisure. The area’s architectural history is also worth exploring: churches, towers and a bridge reveal different aspects of the municipality’s cultural heritage.
By the Neira: Leisure and a Place to Stay
The Área Recreativa Manuel González Capón has sports courts, shaded areas, picnic tables, benches and barbecue facilities. The site also includes municipal swimming pools and a children’s playground. Its facilities offer options ranging from exercise and relaxing in the shade to sharing a meal outdoors. There is also a free public motorhome parking area, where the maximum stay is 72 hours.
This riverside area offers a different focus from Baralla’s churches and historic buildings: here, the Neira not only shapes the landscape but also provides a setting for leisure facilities. Visitors interested in both can find the river and a number of distinctive historic buildings in Baralla.
Romanesque Details on the Churches
The Igrexa Parroquial de San Martiño de Berselos was built between the late 12th and early 13th centuries. Its portal is particularly rich in detail: it features a Doric archivolt with a checkerboard design, four attached columns and a semicircular tympanum with figurative decoration. This building brings together a specific date and distinctive design features.
The Igrexa Parroquial de Santiago de Covas has Romanesque origins and was later modified during the Baroque period. Its covered entrance features slate pillars, Romanesque granite columns and capitals decorated with figures. Together with the portal at Berselos, this church shows that Romanesque features survive on different parts of Baralla’s buildings: on the capitals at Covas and on the portal at Berselos.
The Igrexa Parroquial de San Martín de Neira de Rei has a different architectural character. Its floor plan is irregular, and its hipped roof is covered with slate. The cube-shaped bell tower is built of slate masonry, has two storeys and has two buttresses at its base. The descriptions of the roof, floor plan and tower draw attention to several clearly distinct architectural elements, rather than reducing the church to a single feature.
Towers, a Bridge and Traces of the Past
The Torre de Vilameixe is also easy to distinguish by its shape: it comprises a square, three-storey tower with a hipped roof and a rectangular residential building with a gabled roof. The building bears the coat of arms of the Castro family, featuring six roundels. The Casa-Torre de Basille, in turn, consists of a three-storey rubble-stone building with granite blocks at the corners. An adjoining residential building forms a complex with it, together with an enclosing wall and a gate. At the Torre de Piñeira, the tower and dwelling are combined in a traditional form. Its description is defined by granite and slate rubble masonry, as well as granite edging around the corners and windows.
The Ponte de Covas has three openings and round arches. It is thought to have a humpbacked shape and to be built of ashlar and slate. Its Roman classification is also only a possibility: the bridge is believed to have a possible Roman origin and is also said to have been part of a branch or shortcut of the Vía Romana XX. Roman votive offerings dedicated to Jupiter and the goddess Tutela were found in Aranza. These finds and the cautiously worded interpretation of the bridge offer different starting points for exploring Baralla’s past.
Routes and Directions
The Vía Künig runs through the municipality of Baralla and is presented as an alternative route to the Camino Francés. It offers another way to consider Baralla in the context of pilgrimage routes. The churches, meanwhile, can each be reached by following different directions. To get to the Igrexa Parroquial de San Martín de Neira de Rei, travel from the municipal capital along the road towards Baleira. After five kilometres, turn right and follow a path for a further 100 metres.
To reach the Igrexa Parroquial de Santiago de Covas, the directions take you from the LU-621 via the signpost to the Ponte de Covas, then along an unpaved road beside the river. From Baralla, reach the Igrexa Parroquial de San Martiño de Berselos by heading towards Pobra de Xiao and taking the turn-off at Riba de Neira. As the directions include specific turns and an unpaved section, it is worth checking the route again before setting off.
Baralla can thus be explored from a range of perspectives: the Neira shapes the landscape and the riverside leisure facilities, while the churches and towers offer distinctive architectural details.
Discover more destinations: Rábade, Lugo, Trobo, Sabenche, Vilamelle, Pidre, Chantada, Triacastela.
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