09/1/2020 Heritage and tourist resources of the capital of Ribeira Sacra increasingly cross more borders, this time thanks to international publications such as Traveler who on August 19th was traveling through Galician lands in search of the Sephardic legacy. A journey back in time that stops in Ribadavia, Tui and Monforte de Lemos:
“The Jewish testimonies of Monforte are scattered through its streets, especially in the so-called Falagueira, today de la Cruz street, where the shops were, and in those named according to their unions, such as Zapaterías or Pescaderías street which still preserves what was the Sephardic house of the Gaibor family.
It is told by the historian Felipe Aira Pardo, author of the book Judíos y Conversos de Monforte de Lemos, who also talks about the feudal period, in the XII century, of Monforte de Lemos when the Count of Lemos reigned, from his Castle –now National Parador–, part of the Monumental Complex of San Vicente de Pino, next to the Homage Tower and the San Vicente Monastery.
To discover the Sephardic footprint in the streets of Monforte is to close your eyes and imagine the presence of those who for many years lived, traded and were part of the three cultures that made up Spain; finding out their customs, sayings and savoring sweets and spices already integrated into popular everyday life.
Entering the Galician Escorial is to do it in the history of the city. The College of Nuestra Señora de la Antigua, built at the end of the XVI century under the patronage of Cardinal Rodrigo de Castro, is a monumental complex that has the Church, the Cloister and the Museum. In the walnut altarpiece, work of Francisco de Moure, there are curious details such as the circumcision of the baby Jesus. While the museum keeps two oil paintings by El Greco and five tables by Andrea de Sarto.
The 'knowing' for the Jewish people has been of vital importance. Many times they had to leave everything and could only take that knowledge that they transmitted to their descendants. In times when a large part of Christian society was practically illiterate, feudal lords relied on the Jews for the administration of their estates, commerce, transactions. In fact, the Hebrews were the patrimony of the king and used to live within the walls as a sign of protection. There were some conversational families in Monforte de Lemos such as the Coronel, Gaibor, Céspedes or Pereira who had great influence on society.
In this journey through the Sephardic roads, the gastronomic chapter is a priority. Parador of Monforte de Lemos offers a Sephardic menu with potato and sesame burekas, cream of lentils and fresh cheese, carré of lamb roasted with rosemary, and a cold cream of alfóncigos for dessert, washed down by its Ribeira Sacra wines.
The brave mountain viticulture has its maximum expression in the terraces of the Ribeira Sacra. Place of preference to observe the vineyards are the Mirador of Duque and the Embarcadero del Río Sil.
The tiered vineyards form a spectacular landscape and reflect the love for the land and the wine of those who cultivate them and who hope to leave their legacy to their heirs to whom they have transferred their hard and beautiful way of life.
This is how Fernando González, owner of the Algueira winery, founded together with his wife Ana in 1998, transmits it. For Fernando it is exciting to taste those wines whose vines on the banks of the Sil have defied the slope, the wind, the rain and the sun until the broths from its grapes. Mineral, structured, complex, intense and elegant wines. Fernando says how the microclimate that forms in Ribeira Sacra, Mediterranean on the shores of the Atlantic, favors the cultivation of vines, olive trees and citrus fruits. The complement to Fernando's tasting and exhibition is a visit to the Ribeira Sacra Wine Center, where you can learn about the ins and outs of this form of cultivation, and finish in his tapería savoring what he learned.
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