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    Galicia
    Galicia
    Galicia
    Ebook288 pages2 hours

    Galicia

    By Andy Symington

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    About this ebook

    Galicia is a remote region of Spain, offering a variety of rural and urban landscapes that are just a bit different. From its wild Celtic heritage to its convivial towns serving superb seafood, modern life has brought relatively little change to Galicia’s traditional lifestyle. This Footprint Handbook provides invaluable information on transport, accommodation, eating and entertainment to ensure that your trip includes the best of this fascinating region of Spain.

    • Essentials section with useful advice on getting to and around Galicia.

    • Comprehensive, up-to-date listings of where to eat, sleep and play.

    • Includes information on tour operators and activities, from eating delicious seafood to following the footsteps of pilgrims.

    • Detailed maps for Galicia’s key destinations.

    • Slim enough to fit in your pocket.

    With detailed information on all the main sights, plus many lesser-known attractions, Footprint Handbook Galicia provides concise and comprehensive coverage of one of Spain’s most far-flung regions.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBradt Travel Guides Ltd
    Release dateJun 26, 2015
    ISBN9781910120606
    Galicia
    Author

    Andy Symington

    Andy Symington hails from Australia and, after much time spent prowling and working in various corners of the world, he settled in Spain, where he has now lived for several years. He is enamoured of the art, architecture, wildernesses, and tapas of Andalucía, which never ceases to offer up hitherto unknown corners to explore. Andy has extensive experience as a travel writer and is the author of several Footprint guidebooks.

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      Book preview

      Galicia - Andy Symington

      Planning your trip

      Pilgrim Route to Santiago

      Towards Lugo

      Lugo and around

      Santiago de Compostela

      Cathedral and around

      North of the Cathedral

      Around Porta do Camino

      Colegiata de Santa María de Sar

      Rías Altas

      Ribadeo

      Foz and around

      Viveiro and around

      Ortigueira and around

      Cedeira and around

      Ferrol

      Pontedeume and the Caaveiro Valley

      A Coruña and the Costa da Morte

      A Coruña

      Around A Coruña

      Costa da Morte

      Towards the end of the world

      Rías Baixas

      Muros

      Noia and around

      Padrón

      Villagarcía de Arousa and around

      Cambados and around

      Pontevedra, Vigo and south to Portugal

      Pontevedra and around

      Vigo

      South of Vigo

      Miño Valley

      Tui/Tuy

      Ourense/Orense

      Around Ourense

      Practicalities

      Index

      Thrust out into the Atlantic like Spain’s storm shield, and dotted with hill villages and dolmens, remote Galicia reverberates with Celtic history. The gaita, or bagpipe, is a strong element of Galicia’s musical heritage. Another point it shares with other Celtic nations is its rainfall, which is high; in the northwest, it rains 150 days of the year.

      The course of Galicia’s history was changed forever when the tomb of the apostle St James was allegedly discovered here. Pilgrims flocked to Galicia, progressing from across Europe, as they have begun to do again. The twin towers of the marvellous baroque cathedral in the noble granite city of Santiago de Compostela, which grew up around the tomb, is a fitting welcome for them.

      Apart from religion, fishing is Galicia's main business. The ports of Vigo and around provide much of Spain with its fish, and shellfish are intensively farmed in the sheltered rías (inlets). Seafood features heavily in the region's cuisine and the 'national' dish, pulpo (octopus), is deliciously served both in no-frills pulperías and gourmet restaurants.

      The variety of Galicia's rural and urban landscapes makes it a fascinating part of the country. The long, tortuous coastline is spectacular in many places. Inland, the verdant agricultural countryside still houses pockets of 'deep Spain' where small farms sustain a traditional lifestyle, comparatively unaffected by modernization and Europeanization.

      Andy Symington

      Best of

      Galicia

      top things to do and see

      Lugo

      The most striking feature of this pleasant inland town is the fabulous Roman wall that encircles the old centre. It’s an imposing structure indeed, punctuated by 82 towers, and is best appreciated by walking the full length along the top of it. Within the walls thrives a typically Galician tapas scene. see here.

      Santiago de Compostela

      The soaring façade of the cathedral of Galicia’s capital towers over pilgrims who have trudged weary weeks to get here. It’s a fittingly magnificent edifice, but the whole town is beautifully atmospheric with its granite buildings, medieval layout and lively octopus taverns. A very special place indeed. see here.

      A Coruña

      Blessed with a spectacular natural setting on a peninsula, A Coruña seems to shimmer on a fine day as its typical glassed balconies catch the sun. It’s got a bit of everything: an intriguing maritime history, a great town beach, atmosphere in spades and an amazingly vibrant eating scene. see here.

      Costa da Morte and Cabo Finisterre

      The storm-lashed coast southwest of A Coruña harbours gruff and authentic fishing villages that are perfect for exploration a little off the beaten track. This part of Galicia ends at the spectacular cliffs of Cabo Finisterre, thought by the ancients to mark the end of the earth and a popular extension to the Santiago pilgrimage. see here and see here.

      Cambados

      This dignified and handsome small town makes one of the best places to stay in the Rías Baixas area. It’s also happily the centre of a wine region that produces some of Spain’s best whites from the Albariño grape: a perfect match for the quality Galician seafood. see here.

      Islas Cíes

      Forming part of a maritime national park, these unspoiled islands off Vigo were once a haunt of pirates but these days make a fantastic summer getaway with their white-sand beaches and pretty coves. There are no hotels, so it’s either a day-trip or you can stay in the campsite. see here.

      Pilgrim Route

      to Santiago

      The climb from western León province into Galicia is one of the most gruelling parts of the Camino de Santiago, particularly if the local weather is on form. The first stop, O Cebreiro, is a pretty village that offers a well-deserved welcome; from here, the route to Santiago takes you through rolling green hills and a number of interesting Galician towns. Off the route, to the north, is the enjoyable city of Lugo, surrounded by a seriously impressive wall, originally built by the Romans in typically no-holds-barred fashion.

      Towards Lugo

      stiff but spectacular ascent into Galicia with a pilgrim-friendly rest-stop

      Piedrafita and O Cebreiro

      The most spectacular approach into Galicia is via the pass of Piedrafita, a wind-and rain-swept mountain location that can be hostile in the extreme. Sir John Moore and his ragtag British forces were pursued up here by the French army, and many died of cold. Not much further on, they found themselves without explosive to blow up a bridge behind them, and were forced to ditch all their gold over the edge so that they could travel faster and avoid being set upon from behind.

      From Villafranca, the first 20 km as you follow the Valcarce valley slope only gently uphill, but you are then confronted with a long, wearisome ascent of some 600 m over 7 km into Galicia and the pilgrim’s rest stop of O Cebreiro. There will be few days on the Camino when you’ll be gladder to put your feet up. In many ways, this tiny village of attractive stone buildings is where the modern Camino de Santiago was reborn. The church and former pilgrim hostel were rebuilt in the 1960s and the energetic parish priest, Elías Valiña, found suitable people to run hostels in other waystations and began to popularize the notion of the pilgrim way once again.

      Although O Cebreiro can be indescribably bleak as the winds, rains and snows roll in and the power fails, it’s atmospheric and friendly and has all the services a weary pilgrim could desire. Here you’ll see reconstructed pallozas, a circular dwelling of stone walls and straw roofs originating in Celtic pre-Roman Galicia. The church has a reliquary donated by Fernando and Isabel to accompany the chalice, which is known as the ‘Grail of Galicia’, after the host and communion wine became real flesh and blood one day as a skeptical priest went through the motions at Mass. In high summer, pilgrims can outnumber locals (of whom there are 31) by 30 or 40 times.

      Samos

      About 20 km after leaving O Cebreiro, in the village of Triacastela (where some choose to spend the night), pilgrims have a choice of routes, which meet up again further down the track. The more interesting, but slightly longer, goes via the village of Samos (31 km from O Cebreiro, and a great place to spend the night). Significantly wetter than the Greek island where Pythagoras was born, this Samos is wholly dominated by the large monastery of San Julián www.abadiadesamos.com, Mon-Sat 1000-1230, 1630-1830; Sun 1245-1330, 1630-1830, €2; admission by interesting tour only, leaving on the ½ hr. The Benedictines first came here in the sixth century, and a tiny slate chapel by the river dates back to the ninth and 10th; it’s shaded by a large cypress tree. The main monastery is a huge structure entered via its elegant western façade. If you think it looks a bit too square, you’re right; towers were planned but the coffers ran dry before they could be erected. Ask at the monastery for a guide to visit the little chapel by the river it it’s not already open.

      Much of the interior of the monastery has been rebuilt: in 1951 a monk took a candle too close to a fermenting barrel in the distillery and burned most of the complex down. Although a Romanesque doorway is still in place where it used to give access to the old church, most of the architecture is baroque, but a far more elegant and restrained baroque than is usual in these parts. There are two cloisters; a pretty fountain depicting water nymphs from Greek mythology is the highlight of the smaller one, its pagan overtones appear not to trouble the monks, whose cells and eating quarters are here. Sixteen Benedictines still live here and run a small farm on the edge of the village.

      The larger cloister abuts the raised church and is centred around a statue of Feijóo, the notable and enlightened writer who was a monk here early in his career. He donated much money derived from his writings to enable the dome of the church to be completed. The upper level sleeps guests (males can apply in writing or by phone, T982 546 046, to join the community for a contemplative break) and was decorated in the 1960s with a series of murals to replace those paintings lost in the fire. They’re pretty bad – the artist painted cinema posters for a living – but give the monks credit for courage; it would have been all too easy to whack in a series of insipid replicas.

      The church itself is large, elegant, and fairly bare. An Asturian cross above the altar is a reference to the kings that generously donated money to the early monastery; statues of them flank the nave. The dome, as with the one in the sacristy, has a touch of the Italian about it.

      Sarria

      The two separate branches of the Camino converge before Sarria, the major town on this stretch of the Camino, and a starting point for many, as from here to Santiago is the minimum walked distance to achieve the compostela certificate. Sarria is a bit dull; a busy service and transport centre for the region, without a great deal to see. In the old town, on the side of the hill, there’s a simple Romanesque church with a charming cloister and above it, a privately owned castle that needs a couple of ravens as a finishing touch to its creeper-swathed tower. The attractive pedestrianized main street that these are on is full of pilgrim hostels and peregrine-friendly eateries; it also houses a tourist information office. Sarria is famous for antiques, and there are many such shops in the town, and also several places peddling convincing replicas. The riverbank makes a relaxing spot to sit outside on a summer terrace.

      Portomarín

      At first glance you wouldn’t know it, but this village is only about 40 years old. The original lies underwater, submerged when the river Miño was dammed. Hearteningly, the villagers were helped to move the historic buildings to the new site, and Portomarín escaped becoming the sad and soulless concrete shambles that many such relocated villages in Spain are. The main street is attractive, with an arcade and whitewashed buildings, and the Romanesque parish church is well worth a look for its rose window and beautifully carved tall portals.

      Further along the Camino, it’s worth taking a short detour to see the church at Vilar de Donas, see here.

      Melide, Sobrado and Lavacolla

      Once the Camino hits the main road, it’s a rather characterless final stretch to Santiago, with fairly lifeless towns and villages straggling along the highway. The best of them is Melide, the geographical centre of Galicia, which has a very attractive plaza and a moderately interesting church with Romanesque origins.

      If you’ve got transport (there are also buses here from Coruña or Santiago), it’s worth heading north to the small town of Sobrado, where one of Galicia’s largest monasteries has been saved from dereliction by the small community of monks that live there. The church guided tour 1000-1300, 1630-1930, €2, is impressive, with a strange sober façade of squares and geometrical patterning. The interior is softer, with ornate cupolas; there are also three down-at-heel cloisters and the massive kitchen. Sobrado is on the Camino del Norte alternative route to Santiago, and the monks run a pilgrim hostel and also offer comfortable, simple accommodation in their hospedería.

      The last fraction of the pilgrim trail follows the busy main road due west to Santiago and has little of interest. At Lavacolla pilgrims used to bathe in the river so as to be clean when arriving at the apostle’s tomb (the name may derive from the Latin for ‘wash arse’). Ascending the hill of Monte del Gozo, now cluttered with tasteless hostales and roadside brothels, the first pilgrim to spot the cathedral would be dubbed the ‘king’ of the group. A large metal pilgrim figure marks the beginnings of the long outskirts of Santiago itself. If you’re a pilgrim arriving in a very busy period, it may be an idea to overnight just before Santiago, thus arriving first the next morning to grab a cheap bed before everyone else.

      Listings Towards Lugo

      Where to stay

      Piedrafita and O Cebreiro

      There are several options here, all offering similar comforts: cosy rooms in refurbished stone buildings, a convivial pilgrim bar, and warming home-cooked food.

      €€ Hotel O Cebreiro

      O Cebreiro, T982 367 125, www.hotelcebreiro.com.

      Just down from the church, this offers small but comfortable rooms, a range of traditional Galician cuisine, and outdoor tables in the heart of the village. Book it ahead in summer or you may get bumped to inferior accommodation in the village.

      Sarria

      €€ Alfonso IX

      Rúa do Peregrino 29, T982 530 005, www.sarriahotelalfonsoix.com.

      The town’s most luxurious option, this mid-range hotel is modern and pleasant; the rooms have all the facilities (some are equipped for disabled visitors), and it also boasts a gym, sauna and pool as well as a restaurant. Online deals are usually excellent.

      Portomarín

      €€ Pousada de Portomarín

      Av Sarria s/n, T982 545 200, www.pousadadeportomarin.com.

      Not the most attractive of the buildings along the Camino de Santiago, this nevertheless makes a reasonable choice by the river a short stroll from the centre. Rooms are large and comfortable, if curiously furnished, and there’s a pool among other facilities. Could do with a refit.

      Restaurants

      Piedrafita and O Cebreiro

      O Cebreiro has several places to eat, all serving inexpensive mountain

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