Galicia

Galicia Highlights

Eating and drinking in Galicia. Ask a Spaniard if there is a good reason to visit Galicia and nine times out of ten he will mention its gastronomy. Almost all the Spaniards (and Portuguese) who visit the region in ever increasing numbers do so mainly because of its tremendous food and drink. Seafood is the star, and no-one should miss the fabulous percebes, goose-barnacles, about which Woody Allen is supposed to have said, "How could anything so ugly be so delicious?" But diehard meat eaters will not be disappointed either. See the Eating and Drinking in Galicia page for more.

Camino de Santiago. Any route which gets you to Santiago de Compostela is the Camino, but the most commonly followed road is the Camino Francés, the French Way. It starts at Roncesvalles high in the Pyrenees (where the Basques gave Roland and his Frankish troops such a trouncing that the famous Song of Roland pretends that the enemy were the Moors), runs down through wild Navarre and the vineyards of La Rioja, over rugged, imposing Old Castile to lush green Galicia and majestic Santiago de Compostela itself. You don't have to be a pilgrim to enjoy a journey like that, even if it does have too many adjectives. Almost all the Camino de Santiago is at least interesting, but it becomes more intense the closer you get to Santiago, so its Galician section is the most classic. See my Camino de Santiago page for more.

Sights in Galicia. All four provinces, A Coruña, Ourense, Pontevedra, and Lugo have some or a lot of interest for visitors, including their capital cities. These, however, are eclipsed by Galicia's star city, the ancient pilgrimage destination, Santiago de Compostela. As well, the Camino de Santiago in Galicia is even more intense than in other parts of Spain and Romanesque architecture abounds, on the Camino and elsewhere. Castles are plentiful, and the Celtic towns called castroes are found everywhere. In addition, there are dozens of prehistoric dolmens, locally called mámoas, which were collective burial chambers. They are particularly common in the south of Ourense. See the pages on particular places in Galicia (La Coruña province, La Coruña or A Coruña (city), also called Corunna in English, though not often these days, El Ferrol, the great cathedral city of Santiago de Compostela, Lugo province, Lugo (city), Orense or Ourense province, Ourense (city), the lovely Ribeira Sacra region, overlapping Ourense and Lugo, Pontevedra province, Pontevedra (city), and Vigo) for more.

Outdoor Galicia. Galicia's outdoors include the Illas Cías National Park, a birdwatcher's paradise threatened by the Prestige oil spill disaster. The fjord-like Rías Baixas and Rías Altas are estuaries formed by glaciation and made more dramatic still by the sea level having risen since then. The Rías Baixas are the southern estuaries, the coastline of the province of Pontevedra, while the Costa da Morte, Galicia's Death Coast, begins as you enter La Coruña from the south. In spite of its ominous name it is very lovely. The Rías Altas are the northern estuaries, calmer and less dramatic than their southern equivalents. The Ría de Ortigueira in particular is beautiful and unusually sheltered and whales have been known to adopt it as a base. See the pages on particular places in Galicia for more.

Rustic architecture in Galicia. This is interesting precisely because Galicia is quite different from the rest of Spain, even more so than the Basque Country. The use of granite and slate means British visitors often find themselves reminded of the Lake District. Pazos are Galician manor houses or palaces. Pallozas are pre-Roman, i.e, Celtic round houses with thatched roofs nearly reaching the ground; they were inhabited until the sixties. See the pages on particular places in Galicia for more.

Plus, you will find a selection of hotels for each of the places covered, many offering special discounts for last-minute booking. And Language, Getting to Galicia and Moving Around Galicia are covered in my page on Practical Galicia.

Elsewhere on the Net - Selected Links

Finisterrae.com Best of the Net
A beautifully constructed, thoroughly likeable site from the Spanish Land's End (Costa da Morte refers to the extreme dangerousness of the coastline). Great information about the villages, countryside, history and facilities of this captivating region.

Galician National Anthem
The national anthem of Galicia has dreary music, like most, but truly gorgeous lyrics:
"What do the murmurs say
of the coasts growing green once more
under the lucid glimmer
of the soft moonlight?"
Note that it was first sung in Havana - Galicia is a Celtic country, and as such a country of emigrants.

Galicia - Tourist Guide
On-line tourist guide with quite a lot of good stuff if you delve around.