In the place of Couto, here is the site where the Palace of Outeiral, later called "Quinta dos Almeida braga", before being transformed into Boega Cerveira Hotel ****. The whole scenario that develops around this old farm reflects the importance that agriculture had for centuries in this land. Fields are distributed in ledges, adapted to the curves of the land, row borders with the vineyard to tint a topography which sometimes proves to be quite wild.
Of three possible entries for the farm, two are ancient, as much as the house itself, to assess by the date which is preserved on the lintel of the door service that led into the ancient Way to Santiago, will date from 1666. Any one of these ports is crowned with merlons but is transposed to the main entrance; we have direct access to the oldest part of the house. This is a typical construction that distributes in U, with the central courtyard running to good way of the Romans impluvia, which closes the north by a high wall decorated with a series of merlons. The building, which proves to have a good aesthetic quality, is presented in two floors, with a large balcony to set the pace for the 1st floor and is supported by a colonnade that makes remember the old order Doric/Tuscan. All this set with a line of bore gauge fairly uniform, is marked by a tower that excels at one end of the courtyard. If there were doubts as to their chronology, would be enough to pay attention in the windows of the upper floor corner to assess their chronology: seventeenth century.
The Palace of Outeiral is an old manor whose original part is preserved, but that did not escape to intrusions successive restorations and additions that made it an architectural hodgepodge that, after all, shows a certain balance and originality. The latest change date of the last century when it was added a whole new body facing to the west along with the chapel that is dedicated to St. Anne. In this palace we cannot, also fail to admire the magnificent garden that extends in front of the house and auxiliary buildings of an ancient and powerful farmhouse. Entering this list, the facilities that facing the old Way to Santiago, now adapted to functions of Hotel but even until recent times have been shops, storage, wine cellar and even a rotation mill.
Location: Vila Nova de Cerveira
