by Ian Livingston-Caneiro

Created on: January 02, 2011   Last Updated: January 03, 2011

La Guardia, Pontevedra is most beautiful viewed from the tiny mountain, Santa Tecla, that rises on the southern side of the small town. From the very top of the humble  1,000 ft peak looking to the West, towards home, the ocean spreads beyond the natural curve of the earth, past the horizon, buffeting and shaping the thousands of rocks that line the perilous coast. On the South side of the mountain, carving a nearly perfect line to the East, snakes the Miño river, separating Portugal on the South from Spain to the North. My favorite vista from the Santa Tecla is where the Miño river and Atlantic Ocean meet, battling each day with frothy waves against each other as the Ocean fills, then drains, the base of the Miño with salt water. Planted perfectly in the path of this billion-gallon war, exactly where the most northwestern point of Portugal’s border meets Spain, is a small island owned by Portugal with a dilapidated castle sitting among sea-sharpened rocks. The castle served as a prison years ago, but is now abandoned and left to fend for itself against the rugged elements that once protected it from invasions.

Time and nature are not the only thing to have shaped the surrounding area. The road climbing the mountain from the town is shaped like an S on the side facing La Guardia. The road slowly climbs past the invasive Eucalyptus trees that have taken over most of the forests in the province of Galicia, until a small ancient wall, half natural outcropping rock, the other clearly human made, becomes visible on motorists’ right-hand side. As the road climbs and the contents within the wall become visible, the ancient Roman ruins; stables, a church and a jail that sit proudly farther up the road, on the peak of the mountain, seem to lose some of their timelessness. Looking down into the Celtic settlement encased in the ancient wall, rediscovered and dug up 97 years ago, and looking out into the vibrantly green countryside sprinkled with castles, ancient, now purposeless walls, and old watchtowers dotting the coast, it’s easy to forget your in Spain. In fact, Galicia, the province where my mother’s side of my family originates, is often compared to Ireland. It is believed that the Celtic populations that inhabited parts of Northern Europe also navigated their way to “La España Verde” or the “Green Spain,” in the sixth century, landing and creating small tribes that were

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