The town of Fisterra was lucky that its original settlers christened it with such a suggestive name. The greatest aspiration of any hiker will always be to reach a goal. The fact that this goal is the end of the known world makes the motivation for getting here even greater. This was why this talisman was granted to Fisterra to attract travellers and pilgrims.
Although this end of the continent has been inhabited since prehistoric times, as archaeological materials found in the Duio Valley document, the town of Fisterra was created in the Middle Ages. From the end of the 13th century to the end of the 14th, it belonged to the Mariño family. There is documentation from the Middle Ages of the arrival of travellers and pilgrims to Fisterra, many of whom wrote about the journey and the impressions that the place left with them. In 1469 there was already a pilgrims’ hospital near the parish church.
Fisterra was not immune to invasions by foreign pirates, first by Normans and Muslims and later by the English and French. Cardinal Del Hoyo tells us that the population of Fisterra lived in poverty and that their houses were burned down several times during these raids. French troops also came to this port, sacked the place and set fire to the San Carlos Castle.
The original centre around the Riveira beach grew towards the East until two neighbourhoods were formed: the older Cabo da Xesta in the West, and the more modern Cabo da Vila, which extended up to the present day Rúa de Santa Catalina.
Present day Fisterra is very different from that of past centuries—even though certain areas that have preserved the structure of the historical town centre, but most of the houses have been renovated or newly built. Tourism is the main economic activity of Fisterra: tourists are attracted by the end of the Way of St James, as this town and Cape Fisterra are the most westerly point on the European continent.
There are several places in the town that are worth visiting. First, the port area, adorned with the many multicoloured fishing boats, where the new fish market is located, a modern building built between 2004 and 2006, the work of the architect Covadonga Carrasco. In the same area is the anchor of the Casón, the ship that foundered on this coast in 1987 and created panic among the people of the region because of the hazardous cargo on board.
Behind the port is the castle of San Carlos, dating from the mid-18th century, which houses the Fishing Museum, containing fishing gear and information on the port’s seafaring traditions. In the streets of the town centre traditional houses can be found, allowing visitors to see what historical Fisterra was like. On Ara Solis Square is the chapel of Bo Suceso, a baroque building from 1743.
The parish church of Santa María das Areas (dedicated to Saint Mary) is in the outskirts, beside the road to cape Fisterra. It has some Romanesque features but its structure is Gothic, and other elements were added later, disfiguring its original shape. Among them is the baroque chapel of Santo Cristo, with an altarpiece in the same style containing a Gothic image of Christ, for which the local populace has great devotion. On Easter Sunday, in the field to the south of the church, the Resurrection of Christ is re-enacted, an event to which many pilgrims flock.
