Valença And Tui in 1494 by Hieronymus Münze

Extracts from ‘Travels through Spain and Portugal in 1494’ by Hieronymus Münzer. (2)

‘‘On the 11th [of November] after traveling three leagues, we arrived at Valença do Minho, the last town in Portugal on the northern route. Crossing the river Miño, which is as powerful as the Rhine near Basel, we arrived at the city of Tuy, which is situated on a mountain above the river, across from Valença, and is the first city of Galicia. It is a bishopric, with a nice church.

The same day, after our meal, we left Tuy, and very late at night arrived at Redondela, a little town situated on an inlet, where they fish for the very abundant sardines. And if a certain German, born in Frankfurt, who lived there, hadn't given us lodging, we would have passed a very bad night, because the weather was rough; but in exchange for our money, he gave us much largesse.

On the 13th, leaving Caldas before sunrise, we arrived at the very old city of Padrón, formerly called Iria. The first place we entered was the extremely old church of Santiago, and we saw under the high altar a stone column with a certain concavity, where they said the body of Santiago rested.’’