On the way to the sanctuary of Nosa Señora do Monte Medo take advantage and stop briefly at Xunqueira de Ambía to visit its coleggiate church and its beautiful Gothic-style cloister. Later, at the thermal springs town of Baños de Molgas, you will be overcome by the calm and seclusion of a true interior Galician town. Here you will become aware of the power that the vital liquid has in the area. They have spent more than one hundred years making good use of the thermal springs water that rise here, and that are considered to be medicinal since 1873. In order to feel the affectionate warmth of Galicia, there is nothing better than to soak in these waters.
When arriving at the Baroque-style sanctuary, one of the most visited of the Diocese of Ourense, we will take a journey back in time to the battle between the Counts of Caldelas and of Pena, at the beginning of the 9th century, to better understand the legend. According to the legend, after a hard battle at the Monte Medo, the lord of Caldelas, seeing he was about to lose, managed to turn the battle around after asking the Virgin to intervene. In gratitude for his victory, he ordered the chapel of Our Lady of Defence to be built, but it disappeared with the passing of time. Years later, a little girl found the image of the saint inside an oak tree and the Virgin informed her of her desire that a new church be built there. The neighbours decided to take the image to the parish church, but before they arrived, they realised that the carving had returned to the place where it had been discovered, so they resolved not to contradict her. Today, thousands of believers visit the church, many on foot from their places of residence. They arrive mostly on the main days of the religious pilgrimage, on 7th and 8th September, and also during the novena, when the devotion is such that some pilgrims spend the nine days at the local inns.