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Wise Pilgrim APPLeboreiro is one of the more charming hamlets along this stretch of road. It is sparsely populated but well maintained. The small Romanesque Iglesia de Santa María de las Nieves has a nice tympanum. Also of note is the first cabaceiro, a small woven structure with a thatched roof that serves the same function as an hórreo.
The church is also surrounded by legend. It is a familiar one, retold in similar churches and capillas all across Europe. It is the ‘legend of the Virgin that moves in the night’. It tells of a mysterious spring that emerged suddenly and which glowed at night. In their search for the source of the spring, the villagers unearthed the statue of the Virgin. They built a chapel nearby (the one we see today) and moved the Virgin to it. Every night she moved back, unhappy in her new home. Unhappy that is until a clever sculptor correctly interpreted her move as a desire to be outside, he carved a figure of the Virgen into the tympanum and the statue has remained at the altar ever since.
