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The Roman legions passed through this area when conquering the tribe of callaici, which means Galicians. In those times, there were no borders and it would be long before the first one. There is one river with two different names: Limia, for the Galicians who witness its birth in the sources of Antela and Lima, for the Portuguese who see it die in Viana do Castelo. All this area is dominated by rivers. Many tributaries flow along the Limia, that receives two big dykes: As Conchas and Lindoso. The latter has its dam in Portugal, but its waters come from Galicia.
This is, however, a dry area, since it is the mountains, as we approach it, and not the rivers, that define its horizon with its sierra-like profile. Their characteristic castle-shaped peaks make them unmistakable. Given their height, they keep the lowest circular glaciers in the whole Iberian Peninsula. From north to south, the Serra do Laboreiro and the Serra de Queguas; the mountains of O Quinxo; the hill of Santa Eufemia, neighbouring the Serra do Xurés which reaches the highest level of all these mountains with its peak of A Nevosa (1,539 m); further on to the west, the Serra do Pisco and still further, the Serra da Pena and the lands of Couto Mixto which in the old times were neither Spanish nor Portuguese.
These steep, rocky places saw the hunting of the last bear in these latitudes, and today they witness the return of the Xurés goat thanks to a plan for the reintroduction of the free-roaming wild mountain goat. In order to maintain all this diversity, one of the first community experiences of cross-border collaboration has been set up. In terms of category, the National Park of Peneda-Gerês (Portugal) and Natural Park of Baixa Limia-Serra do Xurés form a unique, single natural jewel in this old and new Gallaecia. The Portuguese part keeps considerably leafy areas and high trees which, in the old times, were used in shipbuilding to design trimmers, frames and masts which were renowned in the seven seas.