Hospital da Cruz

Hospital da Cruz is a small hamlet in the municipality of Monterroso in Lugo province, perched high on the Serra de Ligonde, right on the Camino Francés. Its name evokes one of the ancient pilgrim hospitals that lined the Jacobean route during the Middle Ages, a reminder of the essential role these small hamlets played as shelter and assistance for travellers crossing Galicia on their way to Santiago. Sitting at over 700 metres of altitude, the hamlet offers pilgrims a landscape of wide horizons, with green meadows, small woodlands and the typical Galician rural architecture of stone houses. Hospital da Cruz is a strategic stopover for those wishing to split the stretch between Portomarín and Palas de Rei, allowing a more relaxed pace and time to enjoy the characteristic "leg-breaker" terrain of the area. It offers basic accommodation and restaurant services tailored to the pilgrim, in a very quiet setting where the authenticity of the rural A Ulloa region can still be felt.