Discover Ourense from A Arnoia

The capital that the Romans called Aquis Aurienses, «the golden waters», grew up around As Burgas, three thermal springs that rise in the very heart of the old town at close to 67 degrees. It is the city’s pulse: hot water that has flowed without pause for two thousand years and can still be touched in the heart of the centre. A few steps away, the Cathedral of San Martiño holds one of the treasures of Galician Romanesque art, the Pórtico do Paraíso, the polychrome sister of the Compostela Pórtico de la Gloria, whose figures of the Last Judgement still preserve traces of their original colour.

The old town is best explored on foot, from square to square, until you reach the cloister of San Francisco and the two bridges that face each other over the Miño: the Ponte Vella, or Roman Bridge, with its imperial-era base and its great arch rebuilt in the 13th century, and the daring Millennium Bridge, from 2001, with its spiralling pedestrian walkway that rises more than twenty metres to offer the finest panorama of the river. More information at turismo.gal.

No other Spanish city has so much thermal water so close to the surface. The Miño Thermal Walk, a pedestrian route of some four kilometres along the riverbank, threads together as many as seven thermal spaces, many of them with open-air pools to soak in whatever the season —including the celebrated, Japanese-inspired baths of Outariz. It is the perfect way to end the day: a steaming bath beneath the stars before returning to A Arnoia. Remember to check opening hours and prices on the official sources, as they vary by season.

Towards the north of the province, over millennia the River Sil has carved out one of the most awe-inspiring landscapes on the peninsula: the Sil canyons, with walls that at some points plunge almost 500 metres to the water. On those impossible slopes, with gradients reaching 40%, the heroic viticulture of the D.O. Ribeira Sacra is cultivated, a mosaic of terraces harvested by hand and almost by sheer effort. The best way to feel the scale of the canyon is to sail it by catamaran: the boats that set off from the Santo Estevo pier travel the most spectacular stretch of the gorge.

The region owes its name —«sacred riverbank»— to the extraordinary concentration of more than forty monasteries scattered across its slopes. The most monumental, Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil, raised between the 12th and 18th centuries, is today a Parador; beside the water rises the jewel of Santa Cristina as well. It is worth taking your time: this is a full-day excursion from A Arnoia. Details at turismo.gal.

The River Arnoia is one of the most truly ours: it is born and dies within the province and, at almost 85 kilometres, is the longest watercourse in Ourense. The very river that flows past the guesthouse links, upstream, with two of the most beautiful towns in southern Ourense. Allariz, declared a Historic Site and honoured in 1994 with the European Urban Planning Prize for the restoration of its stone old town, spreads along the banks of the Arnoia; its Ethnographic Park recovers old mills, the Museo do Tecido and the Museo do Coiro along riverside paths ideal for walking or cycling.

A few minutes away, Celanova guards the imposing monastery of San Salvador, founded by San Rosendo in the 10th century, and in its garden the tiny Mozarabic oratory of San Miguel, unique in Galicia. It makes a perfect day out: two towns, a shared river and all the history of southern Ourense in a single itinerary.