Parador de Santo Estevo Monasterio de San Estevo

Spain - Galicia - Ourense

Parador Santo Estevo is a converted Benedictine Monastery in the town of Nogueira de Ramuin.

This area of wonderful scenery is known as “Ribeira Sacra” and is where the river Sil joins into the river Mino to form the Northern border of Portugal with Spain.

This monastery is first mentioned in documents of the 10th. century but it is believed to have been founded in the 6th. or 7th. century.

 The building was declared a monument of historical and artistic significance in 1923.

The building has different architectural styles with the three cloisters being Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance.

 The facade is 18th. century and the staircase is of architectural interest.

Parador Santo Estevo has seventy four bedrooms along the three cloisters.

 All the rooms are different with some having magnificent views over the River Sil.

The Parador has a restaurant with a patio and there is a bar in the Porteria cloister,

There is a banquet room and a meeting room with the gardens having a large variety of local plants.

The Parador restaurant serves a wide selection of recipes based on fish from the River Sil and other traditional dishes of the region.

The town of Ourense, 28 kilometres away, is the birthplace of the singer Julio Iglesias and also of the family of Fidel Castro.

The old quarters are very interesting with lively squares near the cathedral and three hot springs near Plaza Mayor.

The Galicia region is at the western end of Europe and considered by the Greeks to be the edge of the world.

Galicia was inhabited by the Celts who first arrived in the region 1000 years B.C..

The discovery the tomb of the apostle St. James was made in the area and his remains are now in the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela,

 The region became one of the most important pilgrimage centres of the Christian church in the Middle Ages and still is the detonation for thousands of visitors each year.

Pets are not allowed.

The Parador season's closing from 7 January 2007 to 20 February 2007.

Directions

The Parador is located in Santo Estevo de Rivas de Sil, 28 kilometres from Ourense. Ourense is reachable through the A-52 of Rias Baixas which connects Madrid-Benavente-Vigo. From Ourense there are two options: taking the C-536 towards Trives and on Km 7 follow directions to Luintra continuing directly to Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil.; take the N-120 towards Monforte de Lemos-Ponferrada and on Km 550, in Penalva, take the road to Luintra continuing directly to Santo Estevo de Ribas de Sil.