PESQUEIRAS

Pesqueira playa o Muíño

Along the mouth of the Miño River, there are many pesqueiras (kind of fishing weirs carved on the rock). In the O Muíño beach and O Puntal, when the low tide you can see the remains of these 18th-century fishing structures. It is a semi-circular stone enclosure where the bait was thrown to lure the fishes which stayed trapped inside when the tide went down.

CETAREAS

Cetaria

In the 19th century are built several cetareas. Placed near to the tidal zone, the necessary water to keep the shellfishes alive went inside of the cetarea, where lobsters, spiny lobsters and velvet crabs are kept sheltered in the hatchery. There are still remains of some of this cetareas, being the best known the Rounded Cetarea or Pepe Sobrino’s that is also the best preserved and most accessible when the sea circumstance allows.

SALINAS

Salinas

The coastline of A Guarda, whether the final stretch of the Miño River or the oceanic coastal has a vast number of salinas (saltern ponds), sometimes isolated and a lot of times carved on the rock. The salinas display a two centimetres depth carving work. In 2015 was made an archaeological intervention in O Seixal that led to confirm the existence of essential salinas, probably dated back to Roman times.

GAMELA

gamela

The gamela is one of the oldest traditional fishing boat used until recently by the A Guarda low-waters fishermen. It is a wooden boat of around 5 metres in length and 2 metres in beam, with a bottom flat and propelled by oars or sails.

MARITIME FAÇADE

fachada maritima sur

Is part of the historic core and is one of the most original pictures of the town. It comes up from an architectonic typology, the seafarer’s buildings between dividing walls, typical in all of the Galician Rías Baixas. This façade comprising in the seafarer district, and its oldest buildings are between the promenade and the Malteses street. The origins of this neighbourhood date back to the 15th and 16th century, when the first settlers dedicated to the fishing labours arrived. Until recently has been inhabited just by sea-faring families. Due to the colourful and shapes variety is one of the most photographed and meaningful urban landscape of A Guarda.

PIERS

Docas (Embarcaderos del Miño)

Traditionally the Miño river seashore had vital importance as a port. In the 19th century at the A Pasaxe neighbourhood (Camposancos) the facilities were refurbished and improved with the built of these piers called As Docas, to permit the ship’s berth and make accessible the goods load and download. Recently they were strengthened, and they are still used by the fishing and recreational boats, and also have green and leisure zones. There are also shipyards engaged in building and repairing traditional fishing boats.

INTANGIBLE

Antonio Adrover González

The cultural heritage doesn’t bound to artefacts and monuments; it also includes the bits of knowledge and techniques transmitted between the different generations. A Guarda carried out an essential work preserving this intangible heritage with the various editions of the Mostra das Tradicións Mariñeiras (Sea-faring Traditions’ Exhibition) and with the compilation and exposure of the contributions of the elders in the project “Tesouros Vivos do Mar” (Alive Sea Treasures).