The Route of the sea of Arousa and river Ulla  

This marine-fluvial route through the Ría de Arousa and the river Ulla commemorates the arrival in Galicia, by sea, of the body of Apostle James the Major, after his martyrdom in Jerusalem in the year 44. Saint James was a fisherman from Galilee, apostle of Christ, evangelist of Occident and early martyr of the apostolic school. Herodes arranged his murder in the year 44.

Ancient Christian traditions reformed by medieval texts, satates that after his martyrdom, some disciples of Saint James gathered his decapitated body and moved it across the whole Mediterranean and the Atlantic Iberian coast up to Iria Flavia, in the proximities of the current village of Padrón. They did the journey in the famous 'stone boat ', which perhaps would be one of the ships prepared for the transportation of minerals that linked Galicia with other zones of the Roman Empire. In the church of Santiago de Padrón the “Pedrón can be found (tradition says that in this stone the boat of the Apostle was moored after the long trip).

The two disciples who accompanied the body of Saint James up to Galicia, Teodoro and Atanasio, had to stay alert to face the determination of Queen Lupa and the fury of the Romans established in the city of Dugium (near Fisterra). With a cart ridden by oxen carrying the body of the Apostle, they passed through the dangers and continued their way up to burying his mortal remains in the mount Libredón.

The annual commemoration of the “Translatio” across the Ría de Arousa, promoted by the Foundation Ruta Jacobea del Mar de Arousa, takes place at the end of July or beginning of August.

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Ría de Arousa - Padrón