Lugo

“ Equally ancient, but in many ways more interesting, is the capital town of Lugo. It boasts a cathedral which shares with San Isidoro of León the immemorial right to have the consecrated Host always exposed; Roman walls in an excellent state of preservation that entirely surround the city, and an establishment of baths. The bath-house contains 200 beds; and the springs, which contain nitre and antimony, are good for cutaneous diseases and rheumatism. The river Miño, which is the glory not only of Lugo but of Galicia, rises in the mountains, some nineteen miles from the city. ”

“ In the centre of the town is the principal square, a light cheerful place, not surrounded by those heavy cumbrous buildings with which the Spaniards both in ancient and modern times have encircled their plazas. It is singular enough that Lugo, at present a place of very little importance, should at one period have been the capital of Spain: yet such it was in the time of the Romans, who, as they were a people not much guided by caprice, had doubtless very excellent reasons for the preference which they gave to the locality. ”

“ After the slaughter of the worn or half-dead cavalry horses, all was still, and now not a sound stirred the air save the tolling of the cathedral bell in Lugo, or the roar of the Minho, swollen by a hundred tributaries, and rushing in wild career through an uncultivated waste of stunted laurel bushes to mingle with the Atlantic. ”

“ The long night march from Lugo had been the most trying and disastrous of any. Yet there was no slackness when they turned to bay; and near Betánzos even the stragglers proved that they retained sufficient cohesion to repulse a cavalry charge.
Dropping in long steep sweeps from the heathery heights to the woodland, the road gradually settles itself down beside the banks of the Mero river; and just as the streamlet widens into an estuary we dip across the mouth of a little lateral valley, where the village of Palávia nestles between two parallel hills. ”

“ In the town itself is almost nothing of what the tourist calls "sights"; which is, perhaps, a chief reason why his shadow almost never falls within it. There is only the dull, bluish-stone cathedral, and an atmosphere wholly individual; nothing exciting, nothing extraordinary, though one amusing detail of life is sure to attract attention. Like many towns of Spain, Lugo obtains her water through the mouths of stone lions in her central plaza. But here the fountain spouts are for some Gallegan reason high above the flagging, far out of reach. ”

“ All through the middle ages, when really Oviedo had usurped its civil, and Santiago its religious significance, Lugo was still considered as being the capital of Galicia, a stronghold against Arab incursions, and a hotbed of unruly noblemen who lost no opportunity in striking a blow for liberty against the encroaching power of the neighbouring kingdom of Asturias, and later on of Leon. ”

“ There are many parts of Galicia in which the scenery has an English flavour, and the Miño valley at Lugo is one of the cases in point. The fields are green and well-wooded, fenced with rough stone walls or sometimes with slabs set edgewise. The hilltops, rounded and heathy, are plentifully studded with Celtic and Roman earthworks; and when we mount to their summits (an event which happens more frequently than is quite agreeable to the cyclist) it is only like straying from Dorset to Exmoor or the Yorkshire fells. ”

“ The conventual church of Santo Domingo dates from the 14th century. The principal industries are tanning, and the manufacture of linen and woollen cloth. About 1 m. S., on the left bank of the Miño, are the famous hot sulphur baths of Lugo.
Lugo (Lucus Augusti) was a flourishing city under Roman rule (c. 19 B.C.–A.D. 409) and was made by Augustus the seat of a conventus juridicus (assize) . Its sulphur baths were even then well known. It was sacked by barbarian invaders in the 5th century, and suffered greatly in the Moorish wars of the 8th century. ”

“ In the days of the Romans, Lugo was known as Augusta Lucus. Tradition tells us that the Romans found a Celtic town there, and although we have as yet no actual proof of this, we know for a certainty that the ancient Celts had a god called Lugus or Lug (gen. Loga) . Jubainville thinks that the name of Louth in Ireland is derived from Lugus. This deity was supposed to be a god with a human form; the same authority cites five continental towns thought to have derived their names from the same source, but he does not seem to have noticed that of Lugo in Galicia. ”

“ The three tall towers of Santiago de Compostela salute the traveller from afar off across the wild moors that flank the Lugo road. The city is deceitfully situated—for when we are once within it we imagine ourselves on an eminence ”

“ According to Barros Sivelo, there are also some remains of the Roman prison, but I had not time to search for these.
The province of Lugo is said to be the most rainy part of Galicia, which is saying a great deal, seeing that Galicia is the most rainy part of Spain. The streets of Lugo are constantly enveloped in an impenetrable white mist during about eight months of the year; but when the sun does shine, there are splendid views to be obtained on all sides. ”

“ We [76] moved forward by fair and easy stages, by way of Lugo, Villa Franca, Cacabelos, and Astorga; this latter place we reached on the 19th November, but during the march, we had experienced considerable difficulty in obtaining supplies both of provisions and the means of transport. This is a considerable town, containing probably about 5000 inhabitants. Both it and Lugo are surrounded by old Moorish walls, which may formerly have been considered strong, but which, according to the present mode of warfare, would offer but a feeble resistance to a besieging army. ”

“ He is fitted to be what he is,--the domestic, the server of his fellow-countrymen.
From the posada at the city gate I climbed to Lugo's chief promenade and Alameda, the top of her surrounding wall. This is some forty feet high, of flat, irregular slabs of slate-stone on Roman foundations, with a circuit of nearly a mile and a half. The town within and below is of the same material, the dull gray or drab so predominating as to give the place the somberness of a stone village of Wales. The inhabitants, moreover, have little of the Spaniard's love of color, being as sober in garb as in demeanor. ”

“ Some of the valleys of Lugo are fertile, and yield not only corn but fruit and wine. The principal agricultural wealth, however, is on the Miño and Sil, where rye, maize, wheat, flax, hemp and a little silk are produced. ”

“ Francisco de Lugo may have reached the distance of about four miles when he fell in with vast numbers of Indians, commanded by their several chiefs. They were armed as usual, immediately advanced towards our men, whom they surrounded on all sides, and began pouring forth a shower of arrows. The Indians, indeed, were in too great numbers for our small detachment. They first threw in their lances and the stones from their slings, then fell upon our men with sharp swords, which they wield with both hands. ”

“ LUGO, a maritime province of north-western Spain, formed in 1833 of districts taken from the old province of Galicia, and bounded N. by the Atlantic, E. by Oviedo and Leon, S. by Orense, and W. by Pontevedra and Corunna. Pop. (1900) 465,386; area, 3814 sq. m. The coast, which extends for about 40 m. from the estuary of Rivadéo to Cape de Vares, is extremely rugged and inaccessible, and few of the inlets, except those of Rivadéo and Vivero, admit large vessels. The province, especially in the north and east, is mountainous, being traversed by the Cantabrian chain and its offshoots ”

“ A wide carriage road encircles the walls, and the circuit makes a pleasant drive in fine weather.
About fifty kilometres distant from Lugo, in a green valley surrounded on all sides by mountains, lies the town of Mondoñedo. This town is not without its interest to students of Galicia, but as there is no railway to it, tourists seldom find their way thither. The Cathedral of San Martin at Mondoñedo is said to date from the year 1114. The sacristy is decorated with interesting frescoes about which a good deal has been written. ”

“ After remaining quiet for some time and lighting our fires, and no movement being perceived on the opposite bank, the piquets and supports were silently withdrawn about half-past eleven o’clock and followed the track of the main body, whom we joined about dawn on march to Lugo.
86 This morning’s march was heavy; for the enemy’s cavalry alone having come up and keeping rather distant, the men complained of not having an enlivening shot to break the dreary monotony. However, we were soon gratified by seeing the whole British army in position about three miles in front of Lugo. ”

“ MONFORTE, or, to give it its full name, Monforte de Lemus, in the province of Lugo, was our next halting-place after we left Orense. The population of Orense is under five thousand, and there is, besides the Jesuit College, nothing in the modern town to recommend it to the visitor’s attention beyond the fact that it gives its name to an important railway junction, by which communication is carried from Galicia to Madrid and the rest of Spain. ”

“ The big peg-top-shaped jars of red earthenware are peculiar to Lugo itself. Vigo prefers them white, and shapes them like an exaggerated teapot, with no lid and a very rudimentary spout; their rude resemblance to a hen— (any relation, I wonder, to the “tappit hen” of Scotland?) —is an idea which is often exploited by a potter of artistic mind. The black oval keg shown in the sketch of Rivadeo is monopolised by western Asturias; Pajares boasts an elegant three-handled speciality; and the{81} pitchers at Caceres are of “Forty Thieves” design. ”

“ SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELLA. THE journey from Lugo to Santiago is pleasant so far as the country is concerned, and there is one advantage in the extremely slow and grave pace of the diligences in this part of the world, that it always allows of the scenery being well studied. Moreover, in these long rides there is a pleasure and relief in being able to take a good walk without much risk of being left behind, which can hardly be appreciated by the modern Englishman who travels only in his own country. ”

“ Slate is found in many varieties, and near Mondoñedo there are fossilised shells, including petrified bivalves. Quartz is very frequent. The alluvial soil near the rivers in the low-lying valleys is covered with water in winter.
Lugo has sulphur springs on the banks of the Miño; the bathing establishment is built with a patio and galleries round four separate springs, and there is hotel accommodation for a large number of visitors; these baths are considered to be the best in Galicia. Borrow, who visited them in 1836, wrote that they were “built over warm springs that flow into the river. ”

“ This is the only portico of its kind in Galicia, for those of Santiago and Orense are interior porticos, and that of Lugo is merely an additional piece built into the original Romanesque doorway. The interior of the Tuy portico is square and covered with Gothic vaulting. The entrance door is flanked on either side by four columns and as many statues: each statue stands upon the back of some animal, except one, which rests upon the shoulders of a man ”

“ This expedition was divided into two parts. One part was to ascend the river in a number of brigantines, and was commanded by Lugo himself. The other division was to proceed inland from Santa Marta to Tamalameque on the right bank of the river and there meet the brigantines. The command of this division was given to the governor’s lieutenant, the thirty-seven-years-old licentiate Gonzalo Ximenes de Quesada of Granada, afterward rightly surnamed el Conquistador. Under his leading were six hundred and twenty foot-soldiers and eighty-five horsemen. ”

“ No horses so fast, no cattle so fine, no land so fertile, no rancho more famous than the Rancho San Antonio. No family more prominent, no hospitality more welcome or as freely partaken, no hacienda more lovely, happy or prosperous than that of the Lugos.
Antonio Maria Lugo received the grant of the rancho from the King of Spain in 1810 and for fifty years thereafter this old Spanish Don and his sons were the sole owners of its 29,514 acres, adjoining the original pueblo grant of the City of Los Angeles on the southeast. ”

“ There was one time, however, when Don Christobal de Lugo, lieutenant for the captain-general in the Pintados Islands, went there with a fleet, and sacked and burned the principal town, and did considerable damage; but they have always escaped, and repaid to us their losses. They put their trust in a hill very difficult of access, which they have well fortified with artillery, to which they retreat whenever they are attacked. ”

“ What is more, tradition does not weigh heavily on its brow, and depress its inhabitants, as is the case in Lugo and Tuy and Santiago. The movement on the wharves, the continual coming and going of vessels of all sizes, commerce, industry, and other delights of modern civilization do not give the citizens leisure to ponder over the city's two thousand years, nor to preoccupy themselves about art problems. Moreover, the tourist who has come to Spain to visit Toledo and Sevilla hurries off inland, gladly leaving Corunna's streets to sailors and to merchants. ”

“ The territory included in the monastic domain spreads over a large part of the province of Orense, and even enters that of Lugo. In its palmy days, when its rents flowed in and its cells were filled with monks, Osera must have been a little world in itself. The present monastery took a hundred years to builtd concluded in the time of the sixty-fifth abbot, whose name was Simon Rojo. There were once some beautiful fountains in the cloister patios, dating from the middle of the sixteenth century ”