Spain · ES

Monte de Santa Trega

Rising 341 metres above the fishing town of A Guarda in Galicia's south-western corner, Mount Santa Trega is one of Spain's most dramatic archaeological landscapes. At its summit lies a Celtic hillfort — the Castro de Santa Trega — where the stone foundations of circular houses still trace the outline of a community that thrived around two thousand years ago. From these ruins, the view sweeps across the mouth of the River Miño, the Portuguese coastline, the Atlantic Ocean, and the green terraces of the O Rosal valley in a single panorama that has earned the site its place among Galicia's ten must-see destinations. The mountain combines layers of human history in a remarkably compact area: Neolithic petroglyphs on sacred rocks, an Iron Age and Roman-era hill settlement, a medieval hermitage dedicated to Saint Thecla, and a modern network of nature trails. The on-site Archaeological Museum of Santa Trega (MASAT) displays the finest finds from over a century of excavations, including gold-decorated torc terminals and a sculpted stone head known as the Cabezón.