Padrón takes its name from the Pedrón, a Roman altar that Jacobean tradition identifies as the stone to which the boat carrying Santiago's body was moored after arriving in Galicia. The town consequently became an important place of pilgrimage in its own right as well as a stop on the route to Santiago de Compostela.
Padrón is also associated with pementos de Herbón, the small green peppers better known internationally as pimientos de Padrón (Padrón peppers). Tradition traces their cultivation to seeds brought from Mexico by Franciscan friars at nearby Herbón in the 17th century.
Pilgrims arriving in Padrón on the Caminho Português can also obtain the Pedronía, a local pilgrimage diploma commemorating the Jacobean tradition of Santiago's arrival here. Get your credencial stamped at the Igrexa de Santiago de Padrón, then request the Pedronía at the tourist office.
Qué ver en Padrón
Igrexa de Santiago
Beneath the main altar is the Pedrón, a Roman altar dedicated to Neptune that Jacobean tradition identifies as the mooring stone used by the boat carrying Santiago's body to Galicia. The present church is largely 19th-century, but preserves elements from earlier medieval buildings, including a 15th-century stone pulpit carved with Santiago Peregrino.
Santiaguiño do Monte
Tradition identifies this hill above Padrón as a place where Santiago preached during his supposed mission in Galicia. Beside the medieval chapel are a spring associated with the apostle and a group of rocks through whose openings pilgrims once squeezed their bodies as part of devotional rituals.
Casa Museo de Rosalía de Castro
Rosalía de Castro was a 19th-century poet and novelist whose work helped revive Galician as a literary language during the Rexurdimento (Galician cultural revival). She spent the final years of her life in this house, known as Casa da Matanza, and died here in 1885.
Dónde alojarse en Padrón
Albergue Corredoiras
Albergue Murgadán
Albergue Camiño do Sar
Albergue d'Camiño
O Albergue da Meiga
Albergue O Pedrón
Albergue de peregrinos
Albergue-Pensión Flavia
