Get to Know Galicia

This is now my fourth time in Galicia, and during all the time I have spent here I have visited many places and each time I feel closer to this region. In this post I have put together a piece on the places I think are worth seeing here. I invite you to come along on my journey through Galicia!

We start in the Rías Baixas; the jewel of this area is the Cíes Islands. According to The Guardian they have the best beach in the world. The British paper was not mistaken — Rodas Beach is gorgeous, with soft white sand and crystal-clear, turquoise-blue water. But the English press is not the only one to have been spellbound by the Cíes; the Romans were too, and they called them the "Islands of the Gods". You can reach the islands by boat from Vigo or Sanxenxo.

In the Rías Baixas we can also visit many small seaside villages, such as O Grove, with the best seafood paella I have ever eaten, and a very long beach, A Lanzada, with large shells scattered through its sand.

In the south you can also visit cities like Pontevedra. "Pontevedra dá de beber a quen pasa" is a Galician saying that captures very well the essence of this city, which is hospitality. Pontevedra can be admired on foot; everything is fairly close together. You can visit the old quarter, the ruins of Santo Domingo, a few churches or the Museum of Pontevedra, with a gold collection of splendid jewellery more than 4,000 years old. They also say that, in Pontevedra, you never sleep.

We move on to Ourense, where the Romans arrived as early as the 1st century in search of gold in the River Miño. Today we have no gold, but we have hot waters. Some of the thermal baths are public; among the most famous are the Termas da Chavasqueira, where the water can reach 65 degrees. Ourense also has an interesting main square with several places to visit.

Near Ourense is the town of O Carballiño, known for its Octopus Festival. Curiously, several local businesspeople offered 30,000 euros five years ago to buy Paul the Octopus, the famous predictor of World Cup results. They wanted to turn him into the symbol of the octopus fair to promote it. In the end the octopus died and never made it from Germany to O Carballiño.

Another place where you can taste good octopus is Melide, a town we will pass through on the French Way.