The emerged town of Castro Candaz

Since the construction of the Belesar reservoir there are a few opportunities to visit Castro Candaz. This is what currently happens thanks to the steep descent of the waters of the Miño, which gives rise to a large number of people approaching this unique place in the parish of Santa Ana de Pedrafita. The only road that leads to this place leaves the village of Xillán and is used to access the vineyards of this area of ​​the Miño riverbank. The visit to the fort is also useful to know a part of the historical and architectural heritage of the parish.

The route begins in the place of Paracostoira, where according to certain documents there was once a priory that depended on the Ourense monastery of Oseira. Further on - at kilometer 1.1 - there is a crossroads where the cruceiro de Mosteiro is located. It is built in granite stonework, on a large square and stepped base, with a shaft with a cylindrical section ending in a cross with the images of Christ crucified and the Sorrowful.


If we take the road on the left we will reach the village of Sobrado, located about five hundred meters away. In it is the so-called big house of Sobrado, which according to certain historical testimonies was founded in the sixteenth century by Pedro de Sobrado O Vello. The building consists of three bodies, the first corresponding to the main access door, with a semicircular arch and topped by pinnacles or decorative elements. A second body corresponds to a striking tower, which opens a balcony of neoclassical lines and two slender arms stones topped in separate helmets at the top. The third body is formed by a corridor and a staircase that gives access to the upper floor.

We return to the crossroads and continue towards Mosteiro, which is only half a hundred meters away. In the center of the town, the ensemble consists of the parish church of Santa Baia de Pedrafita and a baroque style rectory, located to the right of the temple. The church was rebuilt in the nineteenth century and originally could be part of a monastery today disappeared that would be in the same place that now occupies the rectory. In this nucleus a good number of hórreos is also conserved.

A kilometer ahead is the village of Xillán, where stone is the predominant element in most buildings. In the place there is a manor house with a attached chapel, several granaries and a rustic stone fountain with laundry. In the lower part of the town, the road that leads to Castro Candaz starts.

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