Destinations in Galicia – Foodies and Travellers

Galicia is a tourist paradise yet to be explored. Known for its incredible landscaped richness of valleys covered with green forests. It also has wild cliffs, such as those of A Costa da Morte and beautiful beaches, such as that of the Cathedrals, with its impressive natural sculptures. It is also worth noting the beauty of the Atlantic Islands National Park, where its incredible beach of Rhodes is considered according to journalist Gavin McOwan – from The Guardian magazine the best beach in the world. Awarded by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) in 2015 with 131 blue flags and Galicia has 19 seaports scattered along its more than 1200 km coastline bathed by the Cantabrian Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. This fact makes fishing one of the main activities of this region and its inhabitants. In fact, the city of Vigo houses the main fishing port of Europe. Besides, the capitals of the provinces, La Coruña, Lugo, Orense and Pontevedra, or the regional capital, the monumental Santiago de Compostela, harbor many cultural attractions. Locates in front of the sea is the the Domus museum designed by the Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. It is worth a visit The Tower of Hercules in La Coruña and the Roman walls of the city of Lugo, declared world heritage sites by UNESCO. Besides are interesting other protected natural areas such as Baixa-Lima-Serra do Xurés, natural parks such as the Lagunas de Carregal, Biosphere reserves, such as Allariz, Os Ancares Lucenses, Montes de Navia, Cervantes and Becerreá, Trans-frontier Gerês and the Lands of Minho. In addition to its nature and culture, Galicia is also a reference in Spain for thermal tourism, with numerous spas and hot springs outdoors. If you want to do some sport, you can always go to any of its golf courses, sea ports or ski resorts (Manzaneda), where you can practice countless water sports or mountain sports. In the sea and in the interior you can visit many charming villages such as the villa Baiona La Real, the first point of arrival of the caravel La Pinta after his return of Columbus from the expedition to the Americas and which is commemorated at his local party of La Arribada . La Guardia, is another charming village, with its spectacular views to the mouth of the Miño river. There, from Mount Santa Tecla, you can also admire a large amount of remains from the Celtic period. Millenary buildings, Los Castros are the vestiges of the Celtic people, who inhabited these lands and left their imprint rooted in Galician culture and its people. As well as in Pontevedra but in the northern is O Grove, where we highlight the Island of La Toja. Rivadavia, in Orense, is one of the most important cities of Judaism and capital of Ribeiro wine. And if wine and oenology of height we speak, we can not fail to name the beautiful landscapes of the Sil cannons, where the vineyards of the Ribera Sacra grow. Galicia, a world of options to choose … (read more).

Although still rooted in the rural world, Galicia today is also cosmopolitan and modern. A land that surprises the world with its culture, landscapes, industries, food and design. A Galicia that gradually becomes known and propitiates its development, being, as it is, one of the most privileged regions of Europe.
The climate here is very variable. On the coast, the sea breeze moderates cold and hot. In the interior, the winters are hard and the summers warm due to the winds coming from the south. The orography is also varied and next to the elevated mountains, there are sometimes steep valleys, nuanced by terraces very suitable for the cultivation of the vine. These rise from the channels of the rivers, to the peaks. Also on gentle slopes of pastures and orchards. These ones seem to extend to the sea, forming estuaries, when in fact are “bites” of the sea, which travel all the Galician coastal geography, whether or not, river mouths. Sprinkled throughout is geography by charming seaside towns and inland, distributed in its four provinces, La Coruña, Lugo Orense and Pontevedra.

Galicia is a magical region. It is time to discover it:

From 1860 to 1936 and later in the hardest times in Spain this region has been marked by a recurrent emigration to other Spanish regions and abroad. Galician emigrants have left Galicia, as much for political reasons, as already in the 50’s for economic reasons or of work. This has motivated that nowadays, it is said with humor that there is a Galician in the moon, since it is difficult to find somewhere of the world where not to find one. This circumstance has given to Galicia a great potential in the diaspora, as much to transmit its culture as its gastronomy since there are galicians in countries such us Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba … and also in Central Europe in which Galician is almost synonymous of Spanish.
Galician is together with Spanish its official language and is part of the culture of Galicia, a region deeply rooted in Celtic culture.
Some of the most important Galicians in history are: Rosalía de Castro (1837-1885), writer and poetess; Ramón María del Valle Inclán (1866-1936) writer; Wenceslao Fernández Flórez (1885-1964), writer; Camilo José Cela (1916-2002), writer and winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 1989 and the writer and politician, among others Daniel Manuel Rodríguez Castelao, father of Galician nationalism.
The 25th of July, Santiago The apostle, is its regional holiday.

POSTS: Routes from GALICIA

1-French Way of Santiago (O Cebreiro-Triacastela-Samos-Sarria-Portomarín-Palas de Rei-Melide-Arzúa-Santago de Compostela)
2-Costa da Morte (Ferrol-Mugardos-Ares-Pontedeume-Miño-Betanzos-Sada-A Coruña-Caión-malpica-Corme-Laxe-Camariñas)
3-Terra Cha (Ribadeo-Foz-Viveiro-Mondoñedo-Vilalba-Meira-Lugo)
4-South Entrance (The Boat-Quiroga-The Courel-Monforte de Lemos-Chantada-The Peares-Sober-Castro Caldelas-The Proba de Trives- The Rúa-O Bolo)
5-Rías Baixas (Pontevedra-Marín-Bueu-O Hío-Cangas-Arcade-Redondela-Vigo-Gondomar-O Rosal-Tuy-Arbo)
6-El Paraiso del Albariño (Pontecesures-Catoira-Vilagarcía de Arousa-Vilanova de Arousa-Illa de Arousa-Cambados-O Grove-Sanxenxo-Combarro-Poio)
7-From the heart of Ribeiro to the Valley of Monterrei (Orense-Leiro-Ribadavia-Entrimo-Verín)
8-El Ulla and O Barbanza (Ribadulla-A Estrada-Padrón-Rianxo-Ribeira-Porto do Son-Noia)