Isla Tambo, Military island in Pontevedra Bay, Spain.
Isla Tambo is an oval island in Pontevedra Bay, on the coast of Galicia in Spain, covered mostly by eucalyptus forest. Its shoreline is rocky and broken up by two small sandy beaches lined with pine trees.
In the 12th century, the island belonged to Queen Urraca before she granted it to a monastery that held control over it for several centuries. During the 19th century, it changed hands and purpose more than once, passing from religious to civil and then to military use.
A small chapel on the island once drew pilgrims from the fishing villages along the coast of Pontevedra Bay. Traces of that devotion are still visible today and shape the way local people think about the place.
There are no regular boat services to the island, so reaching it requires arranging a private boat in advance. Weather on the bay can change quickly, so checking conditions before the crossing is worth doing.
Between 1865 and 1879, the island functioned as an official quarantine station for sailors arriving at the ports of the region. Few people know this today, even though it shows how closely the island was tied to the seafaring history of Galicia.
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