Pazo da Mota

Pazo da Mota is a Baroque manor house standing in the parish of San Martiño de Riobó, within the municipality of A Estrada in the province of Pontevedra, Galicia. Also known as Casa dos Oteros, the building was raised in stages between 1716 and 1799 and remains privately owned to this day — the Oteros and de la Calle families, who also once ran A Estrada's former Nosa Señora do Carme sanatorium, have kept it in the family for generations.

What will you see at Pazo da Mota?

The main house follows an L-shaped floor plan across two storeys, adding up to roughly 1,560 m² of built space. Its facade is lined with rectangular windows framed in carved stone, and the entrance is marked by a portal topped with a heavy lintel in classic Baroque fashion. Inside, a chapel opens directly off the main rooms — an unusually grand feature that hints at the standing of the family who built it. Below ground, a stone-vaulted wine cellar with a semicircular roof survives intact, and the whole property sits on a plot of 18,300 m² that also includes a laundry house, a shed and a stable.

In front of the manor stands a five-metre stone cruceiro (wayside cross) carved with religious scenes and the coats of arms of the Gundín and Taboada lineages — a common sight across rural Galicia, executed here with unusual craftsmanship. Nearby rises a ten-bay hórreo, the traditional raised Galician granary, covering around 100 m², making it one of the larger examples of its kind in the area.

How do you get to Pazo da Mota?

The manor sits in the countryside outside A Estrada, on raised ground overlooking the surrounding fields, about 25 km from Santiago de Compostela. It's reachable only by private car or on foot along local roads — there's no regular public transport link, which is typical for this part of Galicia, where pazos (noble country houses) are scattered among fields and woodland rather than clustered in towns.

When should you visit?

Since the pazo is privately owned, spring and summer are the best months to visit: the surrounding countryside is at its greenest and the local roads are easiest to travel. It's worth checking beforehand with A Estrada's tourism office whether access to the grounds is possible on a given date, since interiors are not open to casual visitors.

Why is Pazo da Mota worth seeing?

It's one of the most striking examples of Galician noble architecture: a house with close to twenty bedrooms, its own chapel, a wine cellar and an impressive hórreo, officially listed as a Site of Cultural Interest. Seeing it up close offers a rare, well-preserved window into the life of Galicia's rural aristocracy three centuries ago, kept intact thanks to uninterrupted care by a single family.

Frequently asked questions

Can you visit the inside of Pazo da Mota? The property is privately owned, so interiors are not open to the public — visits are generally limited to viewing the exterior and the surrounding grounds.

How far is Pazo da Mota from Santiago de Compostela? The manor lies about 25 km away, in the parish of San Martiño de Riobó within the municipality of A Estrada.

What is the hórreo standing next to the pazo? It's a traditional raised Galician granary, here built with ten bays and covering about 100 m² — one of the more impressive examples of this architecture in the region.

Who owns the property today? Pazo da Mota remains in the hands of the Oteros and de la Calle families, who have maintained the building in good condition for generations.