San Xoán: a magical night 'Galician style'
The San Juans night It is celebrated with enthusiasm throughout the Peninsula: **Alicante, Porto, Lanjarón** and many places in Catalonia form that night a map marked by bonfires, food and drink.
Galicia, with its San Xoán, does not lag behind. Find out how to celebrate this magical night in true Northwest style.
COSTA DE MORTE: LESTÓN HOUSE (SARDIÑEIRO), VERBENA AND LONGUEIRÓNS TORTILLA.
Like any celebration worth its salt, that of San Xoán begins earlier than the calendar indicates. So, although the big night is from the 23rd to the 24th, we can start the tour the day before by visiting walls, one of the most beautiful towns in the rías baixas del norte.
Go to the village of Serres, where on the afternoon of the 22nd a great popular mussel. In coastal Galicia, in summer, if there are no mussels there is no party.
The tour can continue towards the Costa da Morte, with a stop in Sardiñeiro, a village by the sea that celebrates its patron saint's day on that day. And even if the party is the pretext, do not forget to reserve a table in the centenary restaurant House Leston and of order your mythical longueirón omelette, razor-like but thinner.
A Coruña welcomes summer on the beach and at the bonfire
A CORUÑA: BONFIRES, OCTOPUS AND TAVERNS
Another essential stop is A Coruña, a city that throws itself into the festival of San Xoán like few others. Literally hundreds of bonfires take over the beaches of Riazor and Orzán at night.
But since the day is long and you have to recharge your batteries, what better way to do it than in **one of the legendary taverns in the centre, O Tarabelo (Barrera 15)**, with a portion of parochial , small fried sardines. Or, alternatively, with a classic among classics, the octopus of A Pulpeira de Melide, in the neighboring Plaza de España.
Hundreds of bonfires take over the beaches of Riazor and Orzán during the night of San Xoán
ULLA REGION: CLIMB TO PICO SACRO WITH STOP AT FOGAR DO SANTISO
Back to the south we can join those who greet the summer solstice every year at the top of Pico Sacro, a few kilometers from Santiago.
As the wait at the summit can be long, it is best to stop at ** Fogar do Santiso, ** a restaurant that is spread over a series of cabins and buildings in the middle of a forest and that bets on the local, ecological and seasonal product.
Its grilled meats and organic Padrón peppers, collected just a few steps from your table, they will put you in the mood to face the night in the best of spirits.
Don't rule out finishing the meal with a burned. The steep last meters to the top of Pico Sacro will be much more bearable after this stop.
Grilled octopus from Fogar do Santisto
O GROVE: WAVES AND EMBERS
If you prefer a more beachy plan, perhaps your thing is to comply with the ritual of the Nine Waves, the nine waves, in the A Lanzada beach, in O Grove (Pontevedra).
It is an ancient fertility rite that many people continue to practice today as an excuse to give themselves a swim on this first festive night of summer more than for its miraculous potential.
In any case, as in San Xoán everything revolves around magic, but also fire and smoke, take advantage of the fact that you are in the area to stop at the Brasería Sansíbar, one of those names that run by word of mouth among foodies. Their grilled meats do not have magical properties, but they will make you feel like new.
The Nove Ondas ritual is the perfect excuse to welcome summer with a swim at A Lanzada beach
RÍA DE PONTEVEDRA: CASA SOLLA AND THE MIRACULOUS HERBS
In poio, a step away from Pontevedra, is Casa Solla, one of the historic restaurants of the contemporary Galician haute cuisine. Nearly six decades at the foot of the canyon and the oldest Michelin star in Galicia (they hold it continuously since 1981) make the restaurant an essential visit.
Poio also has the peculiarity of being divided into two nuclei each dedicated to a saint. The Solla restaurant is located in San Salvador , but next to it the village of San Xoan celebrate your big days that week.
You can start by trying the traditional sweet thread on the 22nd or comply with some of the essential rituals, such as go out for the herbs milagreiras (miraculous) on the afternoon of the 23rd.
Prepare with them an aromatic water with which you will have to wash the next morning after leaving it overnight in the open air, so that the smoke from the bonfires transfers protective properties to it, and then join, at nightfall, the great sardiñada that is organized in the town.
OURENSE, SÁBREGO AND THE MAGICAL RITUALS
The province of Ourense is full of magic, so in San Xoán we have a choice: we can give ourselves a night bath in the hot springs of Entrimo either collect walnut leaves and elderflowers in Amoeiro to protect our house throughout the year.
In this area the base camp can be the pretty country house from the Casal de Armán winery, where Sábrego is located, one of the most interesting restaurants in the province. Wake up in such a place, after having tried the menu proposed by the chef Marco Varela it is almost as healing as more traditional rituals.
Casal de Armán, a rural house that houses one of the most interesting restaurants in Ourense: Sábrego
SANTIAGO: CACHARELAS IN THE OLD ZONE AND THE MANSO RESTAURANT
The tour can end in Santiago, the capital of Galicia. That night the squares of the old town are filled with cacharelas –this is how we call the bonfires of San Xoán here– with which neighborhood associations and cultural groups invite locals and tourists to join the party.
The plan may include some live music in front of the convent of San Martín Pinario, jump over a bonfire in the secluded alley of Jerusalem, sardines in the neighborhood of San Pedro, wine in a clay bowl in the Plaza del Matadero, bagpipes and tambourines in the Algalia square in Abaixo and, as the end of the party, the sardines with Padrón peppers and cornbread that the cook Alberto Lareo offers in the tapería of his restaurant Meek.
Start the afternoon having tapas in the old area to see how it is filled with cacharelas (bonfires)