O Pino, The Charm Of nature

Puente Romano

Let us make our imagination flow: fresh air, the scent of rain, silence, a green mantel around us, exquisite gastronomy, a welcoming neighbourhood... everything decorated with certain architectural pearls and the indispensable elements of modern life within easy reach. Open your eyes: you are in the city council of O Pino. The appointment, just beside the mythical Compostela. And just like a tying knot, the always historical and attractive Route of Santiago, in its last steps towards the city of the Apostle.

The myth of the paradise to discover, of those famous lost paradises... could be partly applied to this municipality. The city council becomes, step by step, a reference point for those in search of tranquillity and quality of life.

It is the visit card of a city council in expansion, with an important hotel and restaurant industry, with much to say as for accomodation in the rural areas, and with the approval of the thousands of pilgrims that every year already pass through its paths with their eyes on the objective: Compostela. Let yourself be seduced by O Pino. It is the charm of nature. Do you taste it?.

And if you think it is not enough, keep on reading...

District of Arzúa

The district of Arzúa is composed by the city councils of O Pino, Arzúa, Boimorto y Touro. It is located to the southeast of the province of A Coruña and it has a total surface of 485'23 square kilometres. The population, around twenty thousand people, is distributed between 66 parishes. In nature’s matters, across the district flow the basins of the rivers Tambre (bordering to the north) and Ulla, to the south.

Of very soft relief, the altitude oscillates between the 200 and the 500 meters. The exception is the Coto das Avieiras, in Boimorto, that reaches 773 meters of altitude. As for the climate, it is oceanic and characterized by a thermal softness, with an annual average temperature of 11ºC and abundant precipitations of over 1.550 mm per year.

The district of Arzúa is a crossing district, one of routes, once through it pass the Route of the North and the French Route, and of history: there the visitor finds manors, remains of castros (fortified pre roman villages), vestiges of medieval times... etc. Drawn on the horizon, they look like pictures of natural places mixed in a harmonious way with barns, mills, water sources, churches, peasant houses... Decorating daily life are the pilgrimages and traditional parties as well as the cultural events happening all over the city councils of this nucleus.

The economy of the district is changing, little by little, from the predominant cattle colour that characterized this area for decades. The service and industries sectors, industries like wood or rural tourism constitute basic pillars of local economy. Even so, the more emblematic product still is the famous Queixo (Cheese) Arzúa-Ulloa.

Routes to Santiago

The Route to Santiago is an universal element. Union of cultures, of faith, of hope, of diversity. The first European itinerary of devotion, also declared Patrimony of Humanity. The district of Arzúa welcomes its last stages before the Apostle's city. In fact, O Pino is the municipality that more kilometres of this millennial route possesses. Eighteen pass through several parishes of the municipality. The French Route crosses Arzúaand O Pino, while the North one crosses Boimorto, Arzúa and parts of O Pino.

In the district of Arzúa the pilgrim finds some of the most beautiful hostels in the whole Jacobean Route. Among them those of Ribadiso or Arca, both framed in a picture of exquisite natural beauty and conjugating popular architectural elements with all the comforts to give rest to the tired and hopeful pilgrim / hiker.
 
RESTORING ENERGIES

As we previously stated, the district of Arzúa has an identifying product: the cheese of the Denominación de Orixe (denomination of origin) Arzúa-Ulloa (recognition it possesses since 1995). In fact, Madoz already registered that in Arzúa exquisite cheeses were elaborated and livestock was raised, especially of the bovine kind. In the district the Queixo Tetilla (literally Nipple, on account of its shape) is also elaborated.

Arzúa’s cheese is a cow’s milk cheese, of soft paste, lenticular form and with a minimum maturation of six days. There are, in the same denomination, other two types Arzúa-Ulloa cheese, those of Granja and Curado. Cheeses made in a way transmitted from generation to generation among the cattlemen of the area. The well-known Festa (party or Festival) do Queixo (Arzúa) takes place in the village every first Sunday of every month of March and has been declared of tourist interest.