Galicia Galicia

The north of Spain is very different from other parts of Spain...both special in their own way. They sometimes seem like they are different small countries because many regions have their own language, different food, customs, etc. I visited plenty of the south when I was studying abroad and love it, but the north highly interested me because I had only visited el País Vasco last year and wanted to see more.

Galicia suprised me in the fact that it went way beyond my expectations, the food was incredible- the variety of delicious seafood, great cheese, and wines; the weather was perfect- around 75 degrees all weekend long for a city that is known for cloudy and rainy weather; and the people were very friendly and helpful, and it was inexpensive in comparison to Barcelona.

Our base was Santiago de Compostela-- every night we stayed there but we did day trips to other parts of Galicia as well. Santiago de Compostela is one of the most visited places in Spain...it is highly religious and people participate in the Camino de Santiago and walk days/weeks/months to reach the city and go to the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral. The cathedral is very big and beautiful in a large plaza with other buildings as well (the ayudamiento and a nice 5 star hotel). The main things we did in Santiago de Compostela were sit in the plazas admiring the churches or other monuments, visit parks, and eat tons of delicious food. The highlight for me was octopus a la plancha and the famous tetilla cheese, I was in love. The white gallegan wine there (our favorite was Ribeiro) went so well with the various seafood we tried. The food honestly was to die for...(especially for someone like me who loves fish, cheese, and good wine).

Cathedral de Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela

Santiago de Compostela

Trying Octopus (a la plancha)

We decided to visit Ourense mainly because they were know for their aguas thermales or  thermal baths. I had never been to one and was very interested in trying these out, especially since the weather was so nice. Boy did we make the right choice. I quickly became fascinated with the fact that these aguas thermales were free to the public and anyone could go at any hour of the day. We stayed for probably 3 hours, either enjoying the hot sun in our bathing suits (in early march!!) or trying out the different waters. There were four small jacuzzi type pools with different water temperatures...I could have stayed all day and been overly satisfied..but we also wanted to explore the city. I met a really sweet lady in the thermal baths who lived in Ourense. She offered to show us the city and a great restaurant to have lunch. She showed us the cute little city which has another thermal bath right in the center of town- I died just a little bit thinking how cool it would be to live there and be able to use these baths whenever one wanted to. Then we went to eat at a really good place and got a menu (2 course meal with a drink and dessert, so worth it) and once again walked around and went to the biggest park in Ourense. At night we went back to Santiago by train after our dear friend walked us to the train station. We had a lovely dinner of tapas of seafood and then went to a wine bar that quickly became a favorite.

Ourense-- Aguas Thermales

Ourense

Ourense

Ourense

Ourense

Ourense

Ourense

The next day we wanted to see some of the coast, so we decided to go to Pontevedra since we didn't have enough time to go farther up the coast. Pontevedra was okay, it was a small city with few things to see, but we did eat a good meal there (of course the food does not disappoint here)...but luckily we read about a small town called Combarro which was about 20 minutes away. I loved Combarro, it was a cute little romantic city on the water. It was famous for the hórreos which was a type of storage which were used to dry out certain foods and placed near the water on stilts (pictures below). The few hours we were there, we walked through the whole little city, sat staring at the water, and then got a glass of wine and some tapas as we admired the pretty view. It was perfect. It was time to go back to Santiago de Compostela for our last night in town. We once again ate a fabulous dinner, seafood risotto, a plate of cheese, dessert, a nice wine and then went to our favorite wine bar spot. Incredible. We were so sad to leave behind the very well priced and tasty food.

Pontevedra

Pontevedra

Pontevedra

Pontevedra

Combarro

Combarro

Combarro- Hierro

Combarro

Combarro

Combarro

All in all, it was a great place to visit and experience. I loved the food, the people, the different cities within Galicia and how different they were from one another.