Rota da citânia

The “Rota da Citânia” stretches through the parishes of Donim and S. Salvador de Briteiros, on the northern edge of the municipality, bounded to the north by the Falperra mountains, which have an average elevation of over four hundred meters, and the valley of the  Ave River valley to the south. This is a territory that, in addition to offering favorable natural conditions for agricultural and pastoral activities, provides excellent natural defenses—ideal conditions for the development of early forms of civilization.
The archaeological work of Martins Sarmento in Sabroso and Briteiros, beginning in 1875, made it possible to insight into one of the most important castro civilizations in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula.   The archaeological finds that were then made available—and which can be viewed at the Citânia de Briteiros and at the Museum of Castre Culture (two sites included on this hiking trail), PR2 Citânia Trail represent important evidence of the civilizational complexity of these peoples.
From the gold artifacts, with highly elaborate decorations, to the stonework—of which the emblematic examples are the Pedras Formosas, objects for personal use, and the tools and implements used in daily activities, allow us to imagine that the Castreja civilization—“the cradle of cultural identity” for the peoples of the northwest—possessed highly advanced cultural and artistic forms. Along the Ave River and its tributaries, the Febras and the Torto, we can, even today, observe some of the most useful artifacts in the region’s agrarian and pastoral economy—the mills. It is, therefore, in search of these mills and the surrounding landscape that we invite you to take the route we propose below.