Castle of Catoira (Pontevedra)

Eastern view of the indoor enclosure of the castle

The reconstruction of the ruins of the ancient fortress Castellum Honesti was carried out during the ninth century, during the reign of the Leonese monarch Alfonso III, the Great. In the twelfth century by order of Archbishop Diego Gelmírez the defenses were expanded, with the mission of avoiding the Norman and Saracen expeditions to Compostela, leaving its design as a large elliptical outer enclosure surrounded by a wall and inside another enclosure armed with seven towers, highlighting in its center a large homage tower. Also known as West Towers, they were declared a National Monument and exhibit its grandeur with a large annual Viking pilgrimage.

Catoira

Town Hall

Catoira is a municipality in the province of Pontevedra in the Autonomous Community of Galicia. It is located at the mouth of the river Ulla, at the bottom of the Arousa estuary. The history of Catoira was intimately linked to the strategic importance of the Oeste military complex. Here the culture of the castros settled through a town of the Iron Age, the Roman occupation in the time of the Pax de Augusto and from the beginning of the Middle Ages it served as a defensive shield to Galicia until the reign of the Catholic Monarchs.