Barca do Lago

The Dug here is wide ... with calm waters and strewn about the low banks, it looks like a lake, really.

This was one of the best places of passage of the river, from the remote Roman times, passing through the medieval ones, in which pilgrims moved to Santiago de Compostela. To that end, the "boat" bound the two banks in a constant back and forth as people crossed. On both sides, there were boatmen, who attended to the requests of travelers, of any social condition. But this "lake" does not favor the region with only a good river crossing point. The clean waters and currents are fertile in fish, and the fishery there was abundant and profitable. The place is so pleasant that the noble houses here set themselves. There were residences of families emblazoned on one side and the other on the other. Around the Lake, there was activity all year round.

TLegend has it that in the century. XIII appeared in a fishing net, an image of Our Lady, which people called "Nossa Senhora do Lago". To house this image of the Virgin, a chapel was erected on the right bank of the river, where it came to protect the passers-by. Tradition tells us that, after the appearance of the Virgin, the boatmen of the Cavado passed by, in this place, and thanks to the protection that the Lady received, to take passage on the river. There were boatmen on both sides, always ready at the request of the pilgrims or bystanders. The oral tradition says that it was "passed by God" under the protection of the Virgin.