The Rias Altas and the Lugo coast
As the Galician saying goes "A San Andrés
de Teixido vai de morto o que non foi de vivo" (‘If
you don’t go to San Andrés de Teixido when you’re
alive, you’ll go there when you’re dead’). So
to get there we suggest a route through the Rías Altas
(High Estuaries), leaving La Coruña before passing through
the ancient city of Betanzos, which, with its bridge and medieval
towers, is very much in the mould of Pontedeume.
The road then crosses the Ría de Ferrol and leads on to
the sweeping sands of Valdoviño and the nature reserves
at A Frouxeira.
Cedeira, with its small but attractive ría (estuary), lies
at the foot of the hills of the Serra Capelada, where the sanctuary
of San Andrés de Teixido can be found. The sierra (mountain
range) comes to an abrupt end at the cliff at Vixía de
Herbeira, the highest in Europe, with a 612 metre drop to the
sea.
Cariño and Santa Marta de Ortigueira,
two pretty villages which lie on either side of a delightful ría,
are the hors d’oeuvres to the Ría de O Barqueiro,
which ends at Estaca de Bares, the northernmost point on the Iberian
peninsula.
Viveiro sits on the Lugo coast and welcomes the visitor with its
beaches, medieval quarter and nature reserves. The road continues
to Cervo, where the original Sargadelos ceramics factory was built
and on to Alfoz, which is worth stopping in to visit the Romanesque
cathedral of San Martiño de Mondoñedo. A succession
of beaches follow until you come to the Catedrales beach in Ribadeo.
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