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Wise Pilgrim APPLeboreiro is one of the more charming hamlets on this stretch. Sparsely populated but well-maintained, with stone houses and the small Romanesque Iglesia de Santa María de las Nieves. The tympanum over the doorway is worth a look.
The village has the first cabaceiro you'll encounter — a small woven structure with a thatched roof that serves the same purpose as the stone hórreos: keeping grain dry and away from vermin. Where the hórreo uses granite and raised posts, the cabaceiro uses woven branches and straw. Both solutions work; the materials just depend on what's available locally.
The church is surrounded by the familiar legend of the Virgin who moved in the night — a mysterious glowing spring appeared, and when the locals searched for the source they found a statue of the Virgin. A chapel was built to house it, but each night the statue returned to the spring. Eventually a church was built on the spring itself, which satisfied the Virgin. The story appears in similar form at dozens of churches across Europe.
