SPAIN

PONTEAREAS

AUGA
DRA DA
. S . PE
I .E
 Once upon a time...
The Ways of St.James were so famous that ...

men and women wouldn't fear walking, day after day,

week after week, for months, crossing Europe, to
reach Spain...
 to finally end
FINLAND
their pilgrimage
at the
Cathedral of
THE
NETHERLANDS
Santiago de
Compostela

GALICIA

SPAIN
PORTUGAL
ITALY
Nowadays, people
from all over
Europe, still walk
those paths, which
lead to Galicia
 crossing beautiful landscapes,
achieving a personal experience of
self-knowledge and rediscovering the
bonds that exist between mankind
and nature
And located at 105km. from
Santiago, you’ll reach a small
village called
PONTEAREAS

which is also placed at 25 km from Vigo.

 Vigo
• It’s placed in the South-
west of Galicia, twenty
kms from the border with
Portugal and five
minutes by car to the
beach.
• Vigo has also the most
important fishing harbour
in Spain and this fact
caused that Vigo’s
population increased
thirteen times during the
last century.
 Vigo’s life
• Most of Vigo’s prosperity
has to do with its
harbour, but there is also
a lot of industry and
cultural life around.
• In spite of its industrial
fame, Vigo cares very
much about its tradition
and, in the old part of
the city, one can find
the “basket street”
where Vigo’s women still
weave baskets for
fishermen as old women
did.
Natural Park of Atlantic Islands
• The Natural Park of
Atlantic Islands is known
all over the world
because of its natural
reserve of unique flora
and fauna species.
• On 13th November of
2003, an oil tanker called
Prestige dumped tonnes
of fuel next to Cíes
Islands and most of its
unique species were in
serious danger and some
even died, mainly birds.
 Natural Park of Cíes Islands
• Luckily, five years after
the disaster, we can tell
that Nature power has
almost regenerated the
whole ecosystem of the
Islands.
• So great was the
regeneration that last
year “Rodas’ beach” was
considered by the
newspaper “The
guardian” the best beach
in the world.
 Ponteareas
• Ponteareas is a medium-
sized village, 25 kms to
the east of Vigo.
• Ponteareas is the capital
of Condado’s region.
• Nowadays, 22.411people
live in there and it has
become the main
commercial point of its
area.
 Ponteareas town
• Pontareas takes its name from
the Roman bridge which
crosses Tea River and is
related to most important
facts of Ponteareas’ history.
• In the morning of Corpus
Chirty’s day, streets of
Ponteareas wake up full of
flower carpets made by
Pontareas’ neighbours.
• Carpet’s beauty has come to
be so well-known in Spain that
led this tradition to be
considered a “Tourist
Celebration of National
Interest”
 Tea River
• Tea river is the silent
witness as the time goes
by in Ponteareas. Most of
legends and historic facts
of the city glide around
its Romanic bridges.
• Lots of oaks, birches,
chestnuts, acacias,
willows, and mimosas
grow up next to its
banks, and, lamprey’s
traditional fishing still
takes place in the river’s
waters since very old
times.
 Castro of Troña
• Castros are circular stone
buildings where Celts made
their life around V B. C.
• Some of these ancient
settlements are placed in the
village of Pías, 5 Kms from
Ponteareas.
• 100 m2 of a charming hillside
are occupied with these stone
buildings and, at the top of
the hill, where a chapel and a
stone cross were raised by
Christians many centuries
later, one can imagine our
oldest ancestors living in such
a contact with nature.
 Picaraña’s hill
• Picaraña is the name of a very
famous hill next to
Ponteareas.
• On 2nd of May, neighbours of
Ponteareas pilgrimage to
Picaraña’s hill and celebrate
there a local party.
• Traditional music and dances
take place in front of the
Saint Cross chapel and lots of
stands with Galician products
are put up around.
 Picaraña’s environment
• Apart from its pilgrimage
and amazing
environment, Picaraña is
also very famous because
of these two granite
balls: “Balance Stone”
and “Lovers Stone”, both
of them linked to the
legends of the region.
 Villasobroso Castle
• Villasobroso’s castle is
placed twelve kilometres
from Puentareas.
• It was built during XV
century and several
members of Galician
nobility lived there till
XVIII century.
• Because of its privileged
location, many secret
corridors were dug from
the castle to the Tea
river just for its dwellers
to run away the enemy.
 Mondariz Spa
• Mondariz Spa is a village
located 10 Kms from
Ponteareas. The whole
municipality is dedicated
to the relaxation of its
visitors.
• Life in Mondariz always
deals with its famous
Spa, where one can
enjoy thermal springs,
amazing old trees and
Romanic archaeological
remains.
 I.E.S Pedra da Auga
• Our school is located in
the center of
Ponteareas, very near to
the Council.
• With 510 students, and
59 teachers we offer
Secondary Education(12-
16 years old), A level(16-
18 years old) and
Vocational Studies( 16-18
years old) in Mechanics,
Electronics and Bussiness
Administration.
 Timetables
• Our timetable is 8:45-
14:25 from Monday to
Friday and 16:20-18:00
on Monday.

• We start the course

during the second week
of September and finish
it at the end of June.
 Inmigration
• We have 15 students from abroad, specially South
America.

U.S.A.
Brazil

Portugal I.E.S Pedra

Colombia
da Auga

Perú Argentina
Italy
 I.E.S. Pedra da Auga and the
tree
• Last year, our school
celebrated the “day of
the tree” planting a
“dialogue tree” in the
garden. All the students
can meet whenever they
have arguments or fights
in order to find a
peaceful solution.
• In a hill called Picaraña a
group of students also
planted trees in areas
destroyed by fire.
 Unesco School
• Our school has been
one member of the
Unesco Associated
Schools for years.
Last year we won a
European prize for
“Europoems”
together with an
Italian School, a
Turkish and a
Portuguese one