Trip to Galicia

The trip to Galicia with two of my kids is beginning to take shape. If any of you have any suggestions I would love to hear from you. These are our tentative plans for the time in Galicia. It comes after we have spent a few days in Toledo, 2 weeks in Málaga, and perhaps a long weekend in Cabo de Gata near Almeria.

Friday, July 2 - arrive Santiago de Compostela

Saturday/Sunday - Explore Santiago

Monday - day trip through Muros, Fisterra Camaronas and Buño, returning to Santiago for the night

Tuesday/Wednesday - travel north towards Ferrol, then follow the coast through Viveriro, Cervo, Fox, and Ribadeo and finally head inland to Lugo. Spend the first night on the coast near Cervo or Fox and the second in Lugo.

Thursday - drive from Lugo through Orense and spend the night in Ribadavia.

Friday - from Ribadavia through northern Portugal to Tui, La Garda, Baiona, and Pontevedra. Spend the night in a small village like Combarro.

Saturday - follow coast line to Cambados, Santa Eugenia Riberia, and Noia and spent the night in Santiago.

Sunday, July 11 to Friday July 16 - drive to Cebreiro to join a small group to ride horses to Santiago. We will overnight in Cebreiro, Samos, Portomarín, and Arzúa before arriving in Santiago.

Saturday - return to Madrid area for a few days before flying home.

Do any of you have suggestions as to places to stay? There seems to be good resources for Santiago, but not the other areas. Has anyone ever stayed in the Cervo/Fox region?

Since it might be crowded, should some of these areas be avoided? It is hard to guess how much time one needs to wander through the various regions!!!!

sel, be sure to check out the other lengthy threads on this topic. Many of them are full of information by Eddie, me, and a number of others who have visited the region. Try a search using GALICIA as your keyword here in this forum. Also, be sure to read through my detailed journal about my Galicia tour during Semana Santa 2002 HERE and see my photos HERE where we visited many of the places you list above.

I'll add more information to this thread as it evolves.

Saludos, MadridMan

I have taken many notes from previous postings!!! Your journal was very helpful, but you did not say when you left in the mornings so it was difficult to tell how long each excursion took. You were lucky to do your trip during a less busy time of year. I am afraid that the masses of tourists will detract from the pleasure and make it difficult to do certain trips!!

Maybe Eddie can confirm this but I believe that, while there probably ARE more tourists in Galicia in the summer months, there are significantly FEWER tourists walking though Galicia than anywhere else in Spain all year 'round. I really think it's one of Spain's most overlooked destinations for tourists. You know, most people think Madrid/Castilla, Andalucía, Barcelona, and the southern coasts but that's it. I'd doubt that few people in the world had ever heard the name "GALICIA" before the big oil spill last year.

We got an early start for most of our daytrips, usually leaving Santiago de Compostela by 8:00am or 9:00am at the latest and usually returning just before or just after dark. You'll have a little more light though - bonus!

Saludos, MadridMan

sel writes Be sure to include a stop at Monte Santa Tecla (la Guardia): See the 4th Century B.C. Castreño (Celtic) settlement there. There's a couple of great seafood restaurants at the Fishermen's monument down on the beach. Take the coast road up to Baiona - you would think you are on the Camino Réal in California.

I believe http://www.Galinor.es has some casas rurales listings but you may not be staying in one place long enough.

MM: It's just the American tourists that don't go much to Galicia. Spanish tourists flock there in the summertime.

Thanks for the clarification, Eddie, about who goes to Galicia. Can you be a tourist in your own country? hehehe.. I guess you can.

And I agree with Eddie's recommendation to visit Monte Santa Tecla and its ruins. What a place that is. VERY interesting! You can freely walk directly on top of the walls. I imagined that if this kind of place was in the US the whole area would be roped off and you could only see it from afar. The parking around there is treacherous so be careful. The road is narrow and steep in places and you don't want to slip down the mountain and into the ocean. You can see Portugal on the other side, too. And as Eddie says, there are a number of very good seafood restaurants (and a number of smaller bars that serve food cheaper) in La Guardia. We really enjoyed this little town on the sea.

Tui was an interesting jaunt for us as well. I expected SOME kind of border patrol or guard or something and then was then "This is Europe! We don't have those anymore". We drove over a VERY narrow bridge and spent the afternoon there just walking around the fortress and through the crowds of shoppers/sellers at the flea-market/bazaar.

I'm sure you've been checking out the (nearly streamling) LIVE CAMS of many of your Galicia destinations on the CRTVG websie HERE .

Can't say enough good things about Galicia....

Saludos, MadridMan

MadridMan writes: That would be the 'Prestige' disaster so called because the oil Tanker Prestige broke up and sank about 150-miles off the coast of Galicia.

As for your statement: You'll get some disagreement on that point: Many of the Spanish explorers who came to the Americas were courageous seafarers from Galicia. Cubans especially are proud of their Galicia 'roots.' I mentioned on an earlier post that we coincided with Fidel Castro on a 1992 trip to Spain: he was visiting his family in Betanzes (a'Corunha).

During the Moorish occupation of Spain Christians were all called Gallegos!

Santiago Apostol went to Galicia to bring the Faith to the people there.

Santiago was considered one of the three holiest places in the Christian world (Jerusalem & Rome were the other two). Francis of Asissi made his pilgrimage and built a Franciscan Friary there.

No, sel, I have not visited Lugo yet.

16 July (la Virgen de Carmen) is for Spain like the 4th of July is for the U.S. - the start of the summer season.

I wrote: Sure, there are some people, probably mainly Cuban/Latinos who have heard of Galicia and mostly those from Western Europe but I'd bet that fewer than 5% of the world's population has ever heard of it. None of my coworkers or family members ever did and probably if one took a poll on a street corner in Anywhere, USA that 1% or fewer would have heard of it. In my opinion, <5% = "few". MAYBE that percentage went up to 10% after the widely publicized [Prestige] oil spill took place last year.

Sel, you will love Galicia, the land of my grandparents . Here are some thoughts fo you : 1) for info on Lugo go to Lugo website and then you cantake a virtual tour of the Muralla here ; 2) Santiago is so magical---you will love walking around the streets and savoring the atmosphere!( you may not want to leave after just 2 days!); 3) Cabo de Finisterre is so gorgeous...you will love it! 4) I have never been to Cervo or Fox, but we have stayed in Viveiro here is some info on Viveiro and some pictures too! this link is to a restaurant we ate in in Viveiro that had really nice views.

If you can make it to Cambarro to walk around the town and see the 30 or so hórreos gallegos that are there. You will love it! AS you go down the Rías Baixas you should definitely go to Monte Santa Tecla to see the Celtic ruins there. It is very close to the Portuguese border and the drive is GORGEOUS.

It sounds like a wonderful trip. Buen viaje Hope these thoughts were helpful. Esperanza

I'll throw in here and mention sel's previous topic (shame we couldn't have extended that one to keep her topic linear) in the " Help....Galicia July 2004 ".

Saludos, MadridMan

I am trying to figure out where to fit the loop of Santiago/Cambados/Combarro in our itinerary and have been trying to determine how much time one might spend between Combarro and Santiago. We like to explore but I think we will spend less time eating and drinking than MM reported in his journal.

Does anyone have a summer estimation as to the time frame of this trip? We might be staying at a farm outside of Ponteareas and try to do this as we return to Santiago airport to meet our group for the horse trip. I think that will be sometime after 3:00.

Hi sel -

Wow! - I was amazed to find someone planning on arriving in Santiago the EXACT same day as I plan to. My 2 sons and I are walking the Camino Fonseca (Salamanca to Santiago) starting approx. June 8th & arrive in Santiago July 2nd.

See you there! -

fupanier

That is realy cool!! How old are your sons?

sel, where did you find out about the horse trip to Santiago? It sounds amazing and it might work for my family's plans at some point.
thanks... esperanza

Sel,

I agree with MadridMan:

Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria, or even Castilla-León seem to be forgotten by most tourists, but there are very beautiful and special places to visit there.

Hey, Esperanza: I don't want to seem like MR. Buttinski, but you might find some info at http://www.galinor.es

>>>That is realy cool!! How old are your sons?

They're 16 & 18. We're having one last adventure before my oldest heads off to college. In 2001 my oldest & I hiked the Camino Frances from Burgos to Santiago. We had a great trip - even with heat (meseta) - cold (mountains) - rain - dog attack - wading through sheep on dusty trails - & a bout with bad water (imagine explaining to a doctor in poor spanish cramps & dysentary - the hand signals were disgusting - but hey - he wrote me out a prescription & didn't charge me!). We also met great people - saw beautiful scenery - had great food - drank some fantastic wine (& beer) - & earned our pilgrim Compostela - It was a wonderful way of seeing the northern Spanish country-side.

I'm looking forward to this next route, 300 miles from the southeast. Hopefully I work harder at getting in shape this time - it took me awhile to get my "legs" last time (by the way, I won't)

Since it's a holy year it's going to be very crowded in Santiago. If you want to stay in the old town - especially if budgeting, be sure to reserve ahead -

A horse trip sounds like a great way to see Galicia -

Buen Camino!

fupanier

http://www.turismo-rural.com/castelo/

This website gives you a variety of horseback rides. Also, the granja de castelo link on the left side of this page looks like an interesting country home located south of Pontevedra where we might spend a couple nights.

Since my husband cannot go on this trip, I will be traveling solo with our 19 year old daughter and 14 year old son. Our daughter is skipping the two weeks of school in Málaga and just joining us for the Galicia portion. It is always a challenge to try to connect all the dots!

Slowly but surely the trip is beginning to take shape. A TA at Ohio State who is from Santiago has been giving me some valuable information about overlooked 'must do things' and I continue to read all the info on this site. It seems as though there are not as many inexpensive places to stay in this part of Spain and that fewer places are internet connected.

After Christmas I will begin working again on the trip and probably start booking some of the places I have uncovered.

sel -

Sounds like a great trip - and a fantastic way to generate memories with your kids. My wife isn't making the trip with us either, she doesn't have the legs for it & says that this one's for "the boys".

As with the Camino Frances we'll be spending many of our nights in refugios set up for pilgrims, which cost little (sometimes donation). But they can be very crowded as you get close to Santiago - but on the Frances there were lots of small pensions that were inexpensive along the way - as little as 14 euros for two of us! (shared bath & simple - but clean). I don't know about the route we'll be on - The hardest part as far as cost goes has been watching the dollar collapse - the same trip that we took before would now cost over 25% more today !!!

Best of luck on your planning - I know info can be difficult to track down - which protects the area from being over-run I guess - but look out! - Even Rick Steves is now planning on investigating Santiago & rural Galicia - so our quiet corner of Spain maybe opening up

Take care - & Merry Christmas

Fupanier

For what it’s worth, Vigo is a nice little city, as is Ourense. Great restaurant in Ourense, forget the name but you can email me for that. The chef used to be at El Bulli. The village of Balboa, near Bierzo is very interesting. Near the ruins of a Roman gold mine(worth the visit), this village has a strong Celtic influence and some neat restaurants and bars. La Molina de Aguita is a tiny bar inside an ancient gristmill. CHIS is a restaurant inside one of the old Visigoth or Celtic thatched roof buildings. Great area. An old castle perched on hillside above. From what I understand, the ruins of the old church there, may have been called, “La Puerta de Pardon”. For those too sick, too old or too weak to make it to Santiogo on the pilgrimage, they could get a pardon there. Enjoy!

Has anyone ever taken the bus from the airport in Santiago to the old part of town. The tourist map indicates that there is a bus, but that is all I know at this point. Just for general knowledge, have been told that the taxi fare is a set fee of 14€ plus tip if you desire. There is no danger of getting ripped of by the drivers.

It is time to begin finalizing the plans for this summer. We have four days (Monday, July 5th to Friday, July 9th) with no definite plans. We will have a car and hope to wander clockwise along the coast beginning from Santiago. Once we reach Ribadeo, we would head inland and continue through Lugo, Ourense and to A Guarda, until we fianlly end up at a farm near Pontevedra. My best guess for the nights would be near Cabo Fisterra, A Coruña, Fox or Ribadeo, and Ourense.

It is difficult to know how far we well get each day or what we will encounter so I am considering NOT making advance reservations. Remember that I will be with two kids so it makes me a bit nervous, but I was wondering what those of you who have lived or visited there think. Am I likely to be able to find lodging without advance planning? Any suggestions?

Sel: Sorry to be so long in replying to your query. I have taken both bus and taxi from the Santiago airport to the Historical area. The bus was very crowded but it's cheap. I don't know where all the people came from.

Taxi fares are strictly regulated! Last time I was there I asked a taxista if he would pick us up at 5:00 AM at Hostal Hogar San Francisco and take us to the airport for a 7:00 AM departure. He was waiting at the Gate when the Desk Clerk opened it at 5:00 AM to let us out. His taxi is #49.

I did a search for "Ourense" and this is one of the threads that appeared, so it seemed like a good place to note a new article about Galicia. In this Sunday's New York Times (26 August), there is an article entitled "Spain's Quiet Corner" and it is about several small towns in the province of Ourense.

The author interviews filmmaker and screenwriter José Luis Cuerda about his favorite places in the area. (One of Cuerda's most famous films is "Butterfly," an excellent movie! Besides making movies, Cuerda also has his own winery in the region, Sanclodio.) Some of the places visited include San Ciprián de Las, Cea, Oseira, and Ourense.

You can read the article here .

I saw on the New York Times web site that there is a slide show with some nice photos to accompany the article. Click here to see it.