Day 84: Rias Baixas, Galicia, Spain

Since we had two nights in Santiago de Compostela, we decided to use one of our days to explore more the of the Galician coast. Our day trip today took us first to a town called Muros, which is in an area of the coast referred to as the Rias Baixas. [Ria means inlet, and there are a ton of them all along the coast - they are very similar to fjords. Baixas means "lower", as opposed to the upper rias further north.]

In Muros, we walked on the promenade that runs along the coast, explored the town a bit, and then had a very Galician lunch of pulpo (octopus). It was alternately cloudy and sunny so we made the most of whatever minutes of sunshine we could find and sat along the water for a while.






This is the main square:




Here is a shot as we were driving back out of town and further along the coast.




This is a shot of what we learned are mussel rafts:




For some reason, the flower of choice in this area of Galicia seems to be hydrangeas. They are enormous, everywhere and in the most dramatic colors I have ever seen. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture one of the crazy gardens filled with thousands of fuschia flowers, but Frank can vouch for the fact that I certainly tried! I was hanging out the window with the camera the entire drive and the only shot I managed to get was this one, which doesn't even begin to express the intense colors and quantity.




Even though it was getting extremely cloudy, we decided to take a small beach break in Santa Uxia de Ribiera. We got to use the beach towels we bought recently for the first time and I put my feet in the Atlantic for a first time in a while. (Very cold, as expected.)




After, we drove to a Mirador (look out point) up in the mountains that the guidebook recommended, and we were not disappointed. Here you can see all the mussel rafts again:




There were horses roaming around the mountain where the mirador was and this one crossed the road in front of us just as we turned a corner. You can see how rocky the mountain was and also how foggy it got as we climbed higher up.




Here is one last foggy view before we headed back down the mountain and back to the hotel in Santiago de Compostela.





I was thrilled to be able to see some of Galicia's coastline. This is the province I have most been looking forward to since I have never been here and have always heard such good things about it. Also, my best friend from Spain (Caro!) is from Galicia, so it made it even more interesting to finally be here. I have loved everything so far and have declared Santiago de Compostela one of my new favorite cities in Spain!

We move on to a new spot tomorrow - but it's another Parador and still in Galicia so it should be an easy transition.

ILM