Monterreal Fortress is located on the Monte Boi peninsula, also know as Monterreal. This site has been known over the past 2000 years as the walled precinct. Pre-Christian civilisations such as the Celts, the Phoenicians and the Romans lived here in the past. During the present time, the place was occupied by many different people and it suffered a number of attacks and modifications. The village of Baiona was site here due to a royal privilege issued by The Catholic Kings, as a defence against the corsair incursions.
The peninsula covers an area of 18 hectares and sis surrounded by 3 Km of crenellated battlement walls dating back from the 11th to the 17th centuries. This place changed ownership over the years until 1963, when it was acquired by the Ministry of Information & Tourism to convert it into a Parador Hotel named Conde de Gondomar.
The fort has three important towers: the Tower of the Clock is found near the entrance. Inside this tower there was a hidden warning bell which served as an alarm in case of enemy attacks. The Tower of the Tenaille rises to the East: its duty was to defend the port with artillery. In the West the Tower of the Prince stands over the bay. This is probably the oldest tower and it used to serve as lighthouse for vessels. It shows three coats of arms (the Austrias's, the Sotomaior's and the one of Baiona). The tower was named after the Portuguese prince Afonso Enriques, imprisoned inside the tower in 1137.
The Fortress can be visited all through the year. Amazing sunsets over the ria and the Cíes islands can be admired from the walls. Not to miss the coastline along which Baiona stretches.
References:Dryburgh Abbey on the banks of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders was founded in 1150 in an agreement between Hugh de Morville, Constable of Scotland, and the Premonstratensian canons regular from Alnwick Abbey in Northumberland. The arrival of the canons along with their first abbot, Roger, took place in 1152.
It was burned by English troops in 1322, after which it was restored only to be again burned by Richard II in 1385, but it flourished in the fifteenth century. It was finally destroyed in 1544, briefly surviving until the Scottish Reformation, when it was given to the Earl of Mar by James VI of Scotland. It is now a designated scheduled monument and the surrounding landscape is included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.
David Erskine, 11th Earl of Buchan bought the land in 1786. Sir Walter Scott and Douglas Haig are buried in its grounds.