At 16 kilometers, about 26 minutes from O Souto de la Aldea, we find the village of Castro Caldelas. It is the nearest town.
Here we can find the most important services: The Health Center where the PAC (Continuous Care Point), pharmacy, butchers, fishmongers, several supermarkets, hardware stores, various stores, restaurants, hotels and bars.
The town has a really beautiful historic area, it was declared a historic-artistic site in 1998. With cobbled streets that follow the medieval layout, showing interesting stone houses with galleries and coats of arms. Streets that go up to the castle of the second third of the fourteenth century, built by the VII Count of Lemos.
Castro Caldelas is the only village we have in Terra de Caldelas. The oldest part of the village, especially the streets leading up to the castle of the Counts of Lemos, was declared a Site of Cultural Interest in 1998. They are cobbled streets that follow the medieval layout, showing interesting stone houses with galleries and coats of arms that speak of a rich medieval splendour. Like the house where the writer and politician Vicente Risco was born, nowadays converted into an inn.
On the night of 19th January, the town’s neighbourhood celebrates the Fiesta de los Fachós to honour Saint Sebastian. With an image of the saint made of straw, preceded by a wide torch of up to 30 metres, they make a small procession around the castle carrying long torches, all of them made of straw.
The town also stands out for its rich gastronomy, which includes Caldelá beef, cured ham from pigs fed on chestnuts and, above all, its famous bica (traditional dessert).
The castle
At the foot of the Vía Nueva, the old Roman road between Bracara Augusta and Asturica Augusta, stands the castle of the town, which belonged to the counts of Lemos to defend their domains.
It was built in the 14th century by D Pedro Fernández de Castro. Like most Galician castles, it was partially destroyed in the mid-15th century during the Irmandiña revolt, and later rebuilt.
It has a double wall. Its walls are very thick. The outer wall has three towers on it. The inner wall is topped with battlements.
In the 16th century it was converted into a palace with a large hall. Windows with parlors were opened in its walls and a large corridor was built.
During the War of Independence, in 1809, the neighborhood set fire to it, in retaliation against the French.
In the 18th century, the County of Lemos passed through distant kinship to the House of Alba. The building was inhabited until the 19th century by Sol Stuart, a relative of the Dukes of Alba.
In 1991, it was ceded to the Castro Caldelas City Council, becoming an important cultural center in the region. Inside, it houses the tourist office, the municipal library, the ethnographic museum and an event hall.
