The serenne Minho

Chapter 06

Ribeiro

The fertile banks of the Minho lead us to the district of Ribeiro. From the dos Chaos viewpoint, there is complete quietness. Far away a man and a woman prune the vines for the new harvest. We find ourselves at the midpoint of the Minho. The Avia, Arnoia and Barbantiño rivers make their appearance between the valleys.

The grapes are redolent of the taste of the Atlantic, not that far away despite our pervading sensation of seclusion. It is difficult here not to pass a village with its tiny church, or a convent that transports us back to the Middle Ages.

The new wine is drunk in considerable quantities immediately after the vintage, when it gives an impression of the true juice of the grape, with the sun still in it.

AUBREY F. G. BELL
(Corresponsal del Morning Post)
Spanish Galicia, 1922

Foto Chao

Granxa de Outeiro vineyards

Ribadavia, 1949

Museo Etnolóxico de Ribadavia

Foto Chao

Oenology course

Ribadavia, 1933

Museo Etnolóxico de Ribadavia

Dusk in winter

Ribeiro. Ourense, 2023

Todo morreu, todo é tan só memoria
do tempo fuxidío ou da borralla.
Somente ti non morres, permaneces
—proteico tren de prata
sobre un carril de seixo-
e rodas sin cesar e nunca pasas.

CELSO EMILIO FERREIRO
«Loubanza do Pai Miño»
Onde o mundo se chama Celanova
(Madrid, 1975), 90 [fragmento]

Foto Chao

Ribadavia’s Ethnological Museum is home to a treasure for any lover of the history of photography: the Foto Chao collection. Started around 1870 by Serafín Rodríguez, it is a unique opportunity to submerge yourself in the past of the area and its people. Scenes of everyday life taken outside with the city as backdrop. The only thing that changes as the decades march by are the protagonists and the techniques used: moving from the albumin and photographic plates to the 35mm negative and the slide. Endearing portraits taken thanks to the professionalism of a saga of photographers whose efforts did not cease until 2005.