The mouth of the River Miño, the natural border between Spain and Portugal, is one of the most beautiful areas to be found in Galicia. Surrounding it on every side are fortified towns full of history, vineyards with their own appellations, unique gastronomy and Roman hill forts.

The great landmark of A Guarda, the last town on the Spanish side of the river, is the mountain of Santa Trega, on which there is a Gallaeco-Roman hill fort settlement in a perfect state of preservation.

After visiting A Guarda, the road along the riverbank towards Tomiño leads us through the nearby district of O Rosal, where a specific denomination of local grape is grown and mixed with the Albariño variety.

The road continues towards Tui, the vertex of this journey along the river. Tui is the fortified city we encounter just before crossing the border into Portugal. The whole town is dominated by its cathedral, whose defensive battlements rise over a rocky hill.

From Tui, an immense and perfectly preserved fortress can be seen far off on the other side of the river. This is the Portuguese citadel of Valença do Minho, which can be reached by crossing the old iron international bridge of 1886, inspired by a design of Eiffel´s.
The centre looks like aperpetual street market, with cobbled streets lined with shops selling their time-honoured wares.

We leave Valença behind to continue along the local road leading towards Oporto. It takes us to Vilanova da Cerveira, another small town with a attractive little fortress that has also been converted into a ( Pousada ), the Portuguese equivalent of Spain´s Parador hotels. Around it is a secluded historic centre whose main sights are its large square, the church of Sao Cipriano, and the Solar dos Castros palace, now the municipal library.

Cerveira, whose name comes from the town´s symbol, a deer ( cervo ), has a river beach at Lovelhe and a modern bridge leading across to Goián on the Spanish bank.
If we wish to continue, the best choice is to head south to the seafaring town of Caminha, the end of our route, whose coastline looks over at that of A Guarda in Galicia.

Reached by two bridges, one the work of Eiffel, built over a marshy bed of reeds, this marvellous town has a historic centre with such architectural gems as the Gothic-Renaissance church of Matriz de Caminha, which has been carefully restored and has a beautiful rose window on its façade.

The whole of the Portuguese region of Alto Minho produces a wine with its own official denomination, Vinho Verde. This specifically Portuguese wine is a light, sharp and slightly sparkling white. To round off the itinerary, there is a ferry that transports cars over to the Spanish side. We thus return to our starting point, leaning on the gunwale as the magnificent Miño estuary stretches before us in its awe-inspiring beauty.