We just got settled in our short-stay apartment in Monforte de Lemos when I asked my wife, “do you hear bagpipes?” She paused for a moment then said, “yes!” We rushed to the balcony overlooking the Rio do Cabe (River Cabe). There they were crossing over the River on the Ponte Vella (old bridge), four bagpipers and several drummers.
Monforte, as the locals call it, is off the beaten track for most tourists. It’s located in Galicia, an autonomous community in Spain’s northwest. Galicia is referred to as Green Spain because it has so much lush vegetation caused by the large amounts of rain generated by the oceanic effect of the North Atlantic and Bay of Biscay. Monforte is in the Lugo Provence of Galicia in the Ribeira Sacra (sacred riverbank) wine growing region with its two spectacularly steep canyon-gorged rivers, the Sil and Miño.
It’s quite common for celebrations in towns and villages in Spain, especially during the spring and summer months. But it was a surprise to arrive at the beginning of the weeklong Fiestas Patronales (Patron Saint Festivities) in Monforte.
Hearing and seeing those bagpipes got us all excited about what was to come in the week ahead. What we didn’t realize is that Monforte had so much more to offer, including incredible northern renaissance paintings with an interesting twist and fabulous wines that involved a great deal of skill and courage to cultivate and harvest.
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Bagpipes and Galician Traditions
Often, we would hear and see bagpipers and drummers performing in small squares and marching down small pedestrian streets with papier-mâché big-head puppets (cabezudos). People would follow along, including us, creating a lively and fun impromptu parade. Every night in the Casco Historica (central old town) Praza España (Spanish Square) there would be some entertainment that usually involved bagpipers, dancers, and singers.
At a procession on the day of Festas da Asunción (Festivals of the Assumption) in the Iglesia San Vicente do Pino (Church Saint Vincent of the Pine) we watched a procession of bagpipers, drummers, and singers. Several men led the group down the central aisle of the church banging big pole like sticks against the wood floor in unison. The sound and vibration created by the banging, along with the loud piercing sound of the bagpipes, was mesmerizing.
The history of bagpipes in Galicia dates to the Middle Ages when various wind instruments were used in many parts of Europe. However, an Irish and Scottish Celtic connection is also likely, mostly due to pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.
El Greco and the Art of Monforte de Lemos
Monforte has strong ecclesiastic roots that go back to the medieval and Renaissance periods. This is where El Greco steps in. El Greco, not his real name, was Doménikos Theotokopoulos, but at the time people were often called by the name of the place they are from. For El Greco, it was Crete, which was Greek, but the Venetians controlled Crete when El Greco was born in 1541.
In the 16th Century, Cardinal Rodrigo de Castro established a Jesuits college named Colegio de Nuestra Siñora de la Antigua (College of Our Lady of the Ancient). Cardinal de Castro was an avid collector of fine art. When he was visiting Toledo, where Renaissance painter El Greco lived at the time, Cardinal de Castro acquired two El Greco paintings for his Jesuit college in Monforte. These are the Saint Lawrence’s Vision of the Madonna and Child (1577) and Saint Francis and Brother Leo (1609). These, along with some other paintings including Renaissance painter, Andrea del Sarto, are displayed in a small Art Gallery at the College.
Seeing and feeling the depth of these paintings at the College was both comforting and inspiring. But what makes their viewing extra special is that it is not a large commercially crowded affair. A guide accompanies small groups to the College Art Gallery, as well as to the Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Antigua (Church of Our Lady of the Antigua). The Church itself has an elaborate and detailed wood altarpiece carved by the Late Renaissance Galician Sculptor Francisco de Moure.
As we toured the Iglesia our guide pointed out and discussed what turned out to be a very interesting and intriguing painting. This painting was the Adoration of the Magi, also referred to as Monforte Altarpiece, by the Flemish Renaissance painter Hugo van der Goes. It was acquired by Cardinal de Castro in the 16th Century. This painting is not the original, but a replica. Here in lies the strange story, with many slightly different versions of this painting.
The first thing that occurred when the painting arrived at the College, it didn’t fit the physical space in the chapel where it was to be hung. Also, another painting was to be placed above it which there wasn’t enough room for because of the extended top stepped portion of the Monforte Altarpiece. What to do? Well, make it fit by resizing it. Both hinged side wings or panels (called triptych) were removed, and a center top portion (called stepped or inverted t-shape) was cut off. The hinged side wings and cut off top piece subsequently went missing and remain missing.
Fast forward to 2010. The College needed resources for construction to expand its facilities. It decided to sell the Van der Goes painting to the German government. Two private German art brokers were used to make the deal paying what was considered at the time to be way over the value of the painting.
Except for the missing pieces, all is good now. No, not exactly. The local people of Monforte were outraged that ‘their’ painting was being sold, and the Spanish government was upset as well because an important part of Spain’s cultural heritage was leaving the country. A court battle ensued that lasted three years with the German government prevailing. But there was a condition, an exact replica of the painting had to be painted to replace the original resized painting. This replica didn’t show up in Monforte until 1923 and that is what now hangs in the Church. There is no record of who painted this replica, only that it was painted by someone from the school of Northern Renaissance art.
Where is the original now? It’s in the Gemäldegalerie Art Museum, Berlin, which is owned by Berlin State Museums. Complete restoration of this painting was completed in 2004, and in 2023 a stepped top extension portion was created. This was a bold move by the Gemäldegalerie. But after a great deal of research of other Van der Goes works, as well as meticulously studying the entire composition of the painting, they were able to reasonably determine what the stepped portion would look like. They did this because they believed that this extension greatly added to the impact of the painting. However, there continues to be no hinged side wings. This Van der Goes painting is one of the greatest paintings of Northern Renaissance art and even without the side wings, and with a newly created stepped portion, could be worth as much as $300 million.
Heroic Wine in the Ribeira Sacra
Caring for the vineyards and harvesting the wine grapes on the steep slopes of the Sil and Miño rivers, goes to the next level. It’s hard to say exactly how steep these slopes are, but easily 45 degrees. This doesn’t seem like a good place for vineyards, but that is exactly what is on these steep slopes, a lot of them.
Why cultivate wine grapes on these very steep slopes, and secondly, and more importantly, who would dare to work on those slopes? The answer to the first question is that the way many of Sil and Miño riverbank slopes face gives them good sunlight exposure, the steepness provides good water drainage, and the slate based soil retains heat. These factors are good for viticulture.
The answer to the second question is only people with strength and guts would work to cultivate and do the harvesting. The little flat terraces area where the vines grow is hardly big enough for the vines themselves and is full of jagged stones. Then there is the trellising, pruning, soil and pest control management, and maintaining an irrigation system that is primarily done manually. However, the most difficult task must be the harvesting with the cutting and carrying heavy crates of fruit up and down those steep slopes. People who do this are heroes, hence the term ‘heroic wine.’
There are some vineyards that have staired steps using stones to go up and down with some steeper areas using a rail pully system for the transporting of heavy loads. In some steeper places workers wear safety harnesses, but mostly workers cautiously climb up and down.
Many different types of grapes are grown on the Sil and Miño slopes with Mencia, a red flavorful fruity wine, and Godello, a white slightly citrusy flavored wine, being the most popular. Both are often aged in oak which give them a distinct and bold taste.
It’s a flat, straight road, about 15 miles, from Monforte to both the Sil and Miño rivers, but once you get close to the river canyons the roads get narrower and windy.
Most wineries in the area are set up for group tours, but there are many small restaurants and bodegas that are happy to pour some fabulous local wines.
An alternative to driving yourself is to stop by the local Monforte Oficina de Information E Turismo (Information and Tourism Office) that shares space with the Ribeira Sacra Centro do Vino (Wine Center) at 9 Rúa do Comercio, in old town of Monforte. They will be happy to help you find a wine tour. Also, don’t miss the Wine Center exhibition which includes wine tasting.
As a side note here, an important one, drinking wine in a bodegas or bars means that glasses are brought to your table along with the wine bottle, then a generous amount of wine is poured into your glass. Many places bring you a complimentary bowl of very salty thin potato chips and tapas. I recall one place my wife and I sat down for a late afternoon glass of Godello, and after we finished off the potato chips and tapas it was definitely time for a nap to get rested up for one of those 10:00 PM Spanish dinners.
Things to See and Do in Monforte de Lemos
Monforte is a very walkable small town with a pedestrian Casco Historica (central old town), so there is no need for a car, taxi, or any local transport. There is some elevation to navigate, but nothing too daunting. However, the hike up to the hilltop castle, church, and monastery may require a few stop-and-go pauses, but well worth the effort. The torre da homenaxe (castle tower) is worth the stairs climb for the views of the Lemos Valley. The monastery is now an upscale paradores hotel (historic properties) and visitors are welcome.
The River Cabe riverwalk promenade is great for a leisurely stroll or maybe rent a kayak to take in the ambiance from the slow flowing river itself. Just exploring around central old town can be rewarding with many interesting buildings with overhanging glass windows, called galleries, and praziñas (little squares). Occasionally we would come across a bronze marker embedded in a cobblestone street in the shape of the Iberian Peninsula. These indicated that Judíos Sefardíes (Sephardic Jews) lived in that area before the Alhambra Decree that ordered all Jews to convert to Catholicism or leave Spain in 1492. It hard to determine the exact meaning of the Hebrew lettering that is part of the marker is interpreted slightly differently but it appears to read “sephard and remembrance,” with “sephard” translating to Iberian Peninsula.
The Convento das Clarisas de Monforte Art Museum (Museum of Sacred Art) is a museum that displays many beautiful, and powerful, religious oriented art including relics, textiles, sculptures, and paintings. Another museum, which is quite small, is the Museo Lodeiro (Lodeiro Museum) which contains some amazing lifelike wood sculptures by Darío Lodeiro.
Restaurants and bars are everywhere with a large variety of offerings including pulpo á feira (fair-style octopus) which is quite tender and delicious. It’s no smoking inside, but for outside it is best to choose a table upwind from the smokers.
For bread, pastry, and confections it’s Panadería Confitería Moure (Moure Bakery and Confectionery), at Rúa Chantada, 16. For coffee and chocolate the Cafés de Sofa, at Rúa Doutor Teijeiro, 8 is excellent. For ice cream it’s hands down Xeou!, Rúa Cardenal Rodrigo de Castro, 45, where I highly recommend the turrón (nougat) ice cream.
Many hotel and short-stay rentals are available in Monforte. We used booking.com for a one-week rental of the Casa da Alica (Alice’s house), at Rúa das Hortas, 16. This place was so, so special with two terraces, a yoga room, big fans to stay cool, and a very lovely warm host. We were there during the August 12, 2026, total solar eclipse, which we watched from our private balcony overlooking the River Cabe.
How to Get to Monforte de Lemos
There are no commercial airports in Monforte. A Coruña, Santiago de Compostela, and Vigo are within a couple of hours drive with several domestic flights from Madrid. Iberia Airlines offers the most flights to these locations with Air Europe providing some flights to A Coruúa and Vigo. Aer Lingus, Ryanair, and easyJet offer international service to Santiago de Compostela and recently United Airlines began seasonal non-stop service from Newark Airport.
Monforte is a hub for rail service with Spain’s national carrier, Renfe, providing direct service from Madrid’s Chamartín station. This takes about four hours. Other more local train services are also available, including from Santiago do Compostela which only takes an hour and a half. Bus services are also available through Monbus and ALSA which takes about two hours from Santiago de Compostela.
Driving may be your best option with several rental companies to choose from. It looks like Europcar dominates the market in Galicia, but Hertz, Enterprise and many others are available.
The roads in Galicia are good and there are plenty of them, with some toll roads. My tip here is to stay to the right on the four lane and two lanes uphill passing areas. Also, watch closely at the fast-moving roundabouts and many of the streets are one-way and very narrow. Lastly, pedestrians have the right-of-away and they exercise that right aggressively.
On the last night in Monforte at 12:00 midnight there was a fireworks display that must have lasted an hour. During the Patron Saint Festivities you hear and see salute and whistle rockets all day and night. But this was the grand finale with so many loud explosions it felt Monforte was under siege which historically it has been several times.
We can still hear those captivating bagpipes and taste that outstanding Ribeira Sacra wine. Seeing those El Greco’s was breathtaking, but we can’t stop thinking about that Van de Goes Monforte Altarpiece. On our next trip to Monforte we are going to get permission to look around the College for the missing cut off top piece and hinged side wings. They must be there somewhere.
Post By Jerry Olivas
Lived in England since 1998 and travelled the world since 2005, visiting over 100 countries on 5 continents. Writer, blogger, photographer with a passion for adventure and travel, discovering those off beat places not yet on the tourist trail. Marco contributes the very best in independent travel tips and lifestyle articles.