España – Spain: Paisajes Y Monumentos

Very nice pages urquizar. I like this series as well. The engraving is beautiful and I have been fortunate to see quite a few of the monuments depicted on the stamps of these series. In the past year, I was able to see the Arco de Santa María in Burgos and the view of Girona shown on the previous page.

The cathedral of Burgos will pop up later in this series. Burgos is a beautiful city that is relatively unknown outside Spain. Its churches and monasteries guard some spectacular examples of royal funerary monuments and religious artwork.

Girona is better known because its airport is the international gateway to the Costa Brava. Shortly before going there, I spoke someone who has a house in the region. She told me it is a beautiful city. Little did I know how beautiful it is. Among the towns in the Catalan autonomy I visited, this is my favourite.

Another town that, maybe, I should visit when I go to Galicia, is Cambados that appeared on the next issue in the "Paisajes y Monumentos" series. Unfortunately, I have no information on the engraver of this stamp either.

17. Cambados (Pontevedra)

Cambados is a coastal town on the Ría (estuary)de Arousa, in the province of Pontevedra. The town is about 55 kilometres southwest of Santiago de Compostela from where there is a bus service to Cambados. Already in the seventh century, the later Visigoth King Witiza granted the town special privileges. In 1170, King Fernando II of León confirmed these privileges and named it "most royal town."

The town preserves several historic manors. One of these houses the local Parador de Turismo. Cambados is known for its seafood and its white Albariño wines.


No. 17, Cambados (Pontevedra), Edifil nr. 1651

The stamp shows a view of the archway and a corner balcony of the Pazo de Fefiñans from the Plaza de Fefiñans. The Plaza de Fefiñans, historically, was known as the market square for the weekly market held there. On the square stands the Renaissance Pazo de Fefiñans after which the square is named. This manor house was commissioned by Don Juan Sarmiento Valladares, a councillor to the Spanish King Felipe II. The manor became the possession of Don Gonzalo Sarmiento de Valladares, Viscount of Ferfiñans, who commissioned some alterations during the seventeenth century.

The L-shaped manor house with a keep has circular balconies at its corners. One of these emblematic balconies is depicted on the stamp. The manor house passed in the possession of the marquesses of Figueroa through marriage, in the eighteenth century. It, currently, houses the Bodegas del Palacio de Fefiñanes that has produced Albariño wines under the name "Albariño de Fefiñanes."

technical details
Date of issue: 15 September 1965
Value: 3 pesetas (supplement for express delivery (urgencia corriente) to inland addresses for inland addresses, possessions, Philippines, UPAEP (not USA), Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal, and French border zone; double postcards to Morocco; postcards to addresses in other, non-treaty countries; as well as supplement for each 20 grammes for letters over 20 grammes to addresses in other, non-treaty countries)
Colours: chestnut and rose
Format: 28.8 x 33.2 mm.
Perforation gauge: 13¼
Printer: F.N.M.T. (Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre)
Printing process: intaglio
Engraver: Unknown
Number printed: 6,000,000
Edifil nr. 1651

The above stamp shows an Italian Renaissance corner balcony of the Pazo de Fefiñanes and the arch that connects the palace to its gardens. Sixty years later, there are a lot more cars around, but it looks the same.



The pazo that was built by an uncle of the first Viscount of Fefiñanes, who finished it. The L-shaped pazo has balconies as depicted on the stamp on both corners.



Cambados is the capital of the D,O, Rías Baixas wine region and famous for its Albariño wines (whites). Behind the palace is a small vineyard that belongs to the winery located on the ground floor of the wing with the keep. They give guided tours (Castillian and English)* of their winery (bodega) and, at a small extra charge, a subsequent tasting of three of their wines.



The name "1583" wine on the left, that was aged for four months in French oak barrels, refers to the birth year of Gonzalo de Valladares y Sarmiento, first Viscount of Fefiñanes. The other bottle - aged in stainless steel - is brought to market in the third year after the grapes are harvested.

* Unfortunately, the booking is for a minimum of two persons. Off-season, groups can be small, but also only Castillian, and it is possible to tag along when places remain.