Galicia is a World

To paraphrase the Ourensano poet, Vicente Risco, ‘although she is small, Galicia contains a whole world, and each time you return, you will discover something new’. His wonderful poem evokes the essence of Galicia to me and fired me to discover more of that 'world'.

This month S and I have been taking advantage of the Indian Summer here in Galicia by discovering new places and new walks in our beautiful adopted land. Whether cities or coasts, forests or mountains, Galicia has so much to offer. I invite you to join me in some of our favourites:

Cities:

Coruña doesn't look the most densely populated city in Galicia does it?

A Coruña is Galicia’s second most populous city with 243,000 people and by far the most densely populated with 6,500 people per square kilometre as opposed to Lugo’s sparse 272 people per square kilometre. Built on a peninsula, accessed by a narrow isthmus, A Coruña has everything the inveterate shopper can want. It also has one of the nicest maritime walks I’ve come across.

Starting from the old town on the east side of A Coruña’s peninsula, it’s possible to walk some thirteen kilometres around the city’s perimeter along the Paseo Maritima, a well-maintained pedestrian walkway.

16th century castles and city walls

Along the way, we visited the 16th century Castle of San Antón with its views across the bay and its displays of military uniforms and weapons as well as Roman and Celtic finds, and enjoyed discovering the remains of the walls of the old city which are visible from the Paseo.

At the northern tip of the peninsular is the magnificent Torre de Hércules, the only working example of a Roman lighthouse in existence and therefore the oldest active lighthouse in the world.

The Torre dominates the landscape at this end of the peninsula, and the surrounding park with its landscape of sculptures is so green and beautiful that one could easily forget you were in a city at all.

Sculpture park

South of the Torre, the cliffs give way to a sandy beach, the bay of Órzan where we watched surfers riding the swells, and the odd seagull watched us.

From here we cut across the narrowest part of the isthmus, calling into one of the many cafes for lunch before continuing back to the magnificent and lively old town where Maria Pita stands in the square named after her, a warning to the British not to try and invade this particular corner of Galicia.

Beaches:

Beach near Laxe on the west coast

Galicia has some fabulous, and often deserted, beaches. Whether you like surfing or sunbathing, pure white dunes or rocky shores, pebble hunting or rock pools, there is a beach for everyone. In some cases, you can see all of those in one day.

The Camiño dos Faros is a 200km walk along the Costa da Morte or Coast of Death (so called due to the huge number of shipwrecks over the years on this rocky and dangerous stretch of the Atlantic coast.) We choose to walk part of the route between Laxe and Camelle, two places we had briefly visited some years ago. Being us, we chose to walk backwards, from Camelle to Laxe. It was a great choice and a fabulous, hot and sunny day.

Sculpture bythe German artist known as 'Man'

Camelle needs to be better known, if only for its Man Museum. Part inside, part open air, this museum is a testament to an eccentric German artist called Manfred Gnädinger better known locally as El Allemande or simply ‘Man’ who lived a hermit like existence in Camelle until his death in 2002, just days after the Prestige oil tanker disaster.

rocky beaches and white sand beaches

Our walk back to Laxe was seventeen or so (we got lost a couple of times) kilometres of stunning scenery, from rocky cliffs to sandy beaches, lagoons to woodland, we passed through so much beauty I had my mouth hanging open the whole time. There were boulder beaches, sandy beaches, beaches of glass, beaches of pebbles and dunes. Virtually all of these, and most of our walk was empty. We had a truly fabulous day.

Lagoons and sand dunes

Forests:

The Parque Natural Fragas do Eume is one of the best examples of a temperate or Atlantic rainforest in Europe and is home to so much beauty. Consisting of 9,125 hectares of woodland along the banks of the river Eume and its subsidiaries, the Fragas was declared a nature reserve in 1997. The main tree species are oak, ash, poplar, and alder. Below the trees everywhere is humid and damp, with dozens of species of ferns and lichen creating a living carpet of green. The park is also home to many birds and mammals, though less than 500 people live within its boundaries.

We took a short, six-and-a-half-kilometre circular walk from the bridge (at the very end of the narrow access road) up to the 10th century Monastery of San Caaveiro.

Yours truly clambering over rocks

The monastery made a lovely lunch spot before the best part of the walk: back alongside the river. We wandered along narrow tracks through dense forest, jumped tiny streams and clambered up (and down) rocky ledges. The tree roots, growing over the rocks, made perfect handholds though I wished the ‘steps’ had been slightly lower for those of us with short legs! We ate our peaches from home next to a heron, fishing in the clear water and I dangled my feet in the icy water.

spot the heron!

It was another beautiful sunny day and we hardly saw a soul. Those we did see would call out a hearty ‘buenos dias’ and ask how far it was to the monastery before continuing on their way.

Mountains:

O Courel in eastern Galicia

We had never before visited O Courel, an area of ancient woodlands and impressive mountains bordering Castille y León. The continuing October sunshine made it an easy decision though. To say the area was awe-inspiring was the understatement of the year.

a step back in time

Entering O Courel from the south, via Quiroga, was like stepping back in time. The green-clothed mountains are pristine and all-encompassing. The rivers are sparklingly clear. The air is fresh and sweet and what evidence there is of man; whether in ancient castros, medieval castles, or tiny villages dotting the hillsides, seems to blend in with the landscape rather than to dominate it. Even the ubiquitous aeroplanes didn’t seem to fly over O Courel.

We spent a day hiking up to waterfalls, only a trickle in this driest of autumns and discovering surprises round every corner.

Castles and Castros

My first view of the ruined Castelo de Carbedo of the Knights of Santiago had me screaming at S to stop the car. Although only one round tower and some walls remain of this 12th century fortification, its position is incredible.

High above the road and on a level with some of the surrounding mountains it even induced a mild vertigo in me, along with the wonder of standing on a 900-year-old castle wall. Truly I was ‘King of the Castle’.

King (and queen) of the castle

We stayed in Folgoso do Courel overnight. The largest town in O Courel, Folgoso boasted a medical centre, a bakery come general store, an occasionally open information centre and a bar-come-restaurant-come-hotel where we stayed and watched the most magnificent sunset over the mountains opposite whilst sipping a delicious and ridiculously cheap local red wine, and nibbling on our free tapas. No wonder we love Galicia so much!

If you want to know more about this most beautiful area of Spain and see many more photos, I would love to welcome you to my facebook page.