Castroverde

Castroverde is a town and municipal seat in the province of Lugo, squarely on the Camino Primitivo, on the long day's walk linking O Cádavo Baleira with Lugo. Medieval in origin, its emblem is the keep of its castle, raised in the fourteenth century and the only part still standing of the fortress that once ruled the old Terra de Montenegro. The houses gather around it, presided over by the parish church of Santiago and the Fonte dos Nenos. A short distance away stands Vilabade, whose church of Santa María, consecrated in 1457, is known as "the cathedral of Castroverde" for its Gothic scale and its Renaissance porch; beside it, the pazo of Vilabade completes one of the finest heritage groups in the municipality. The area also holds the Cova da Valiña, one of the Upper Palaeolithic sites documented in Galicia. For pilgrims, Castroverde is the last place with services before Lugo: it offers lodging, food and shops, and allows the long stage into the walled city to be split in two.