Castro de Baroña, millennia of history on the edge of the Atlantic
Castro de Barona
You have to keep an eye out so you don't miss your destination while driving south of Porto do Son . It is necessary to park the car in the shade of the trees, next to a bar, and look for the cobbled path between pine forests and gorse. It is clear that access is not the best, of course, but a few meters ahead we will understand why it is worth it. The trail leads to a beach -almost- virgin that extends to the left, and in the background, perched on the rocks, is the castro, a settlement around two millennia old , with the ruins of its characteristic stone houses and its outer wall.
Location, location, location: There are several forts in Galicia that are better preserved and investigated (the one in Holy button is an example), but this one's situation is special: from any corner you can hear -or see- the sea, the surrounding landscape has hardly changed (an adjacent beach house breaks the harmony a bit) since the place was inhabited 2000 years ago, the ocean breaks against the rocks, and dolphins are often spotted . Watching the sunset sitting on its rocks is an experience that is hard to forget.
You don't have to go to Iceland to enjoy the natural pools of steaming water
Ourense hot springs
If you are fascinated by the images of Icelanders in natural pools of steaming water while the outside temperature hovers around zero degrees, this is the appropriate place to emulate them . Ourense is a land of hot springs and mineral-medicinal waters , and among the wide offer of the entire province, we are left with these fundamentally for two reasons: the s situation (next to the city, perfectly communicated and on the banks of the Miño River) ; the price (there are several hot springs free , musical word) .
The pleasure of relaxing in a natural spa where the water flows at a minimum of 40 degrees (in summer the outside temperature can easily be the same) it will necessarily make us feel good, beyond the therapeutic properties of the water. If you want a little more exclusivity, for about four euros you can access the facilities of the private hot springs , like the hot springs To Chavasqueira or of Outariz . The circuit is more elaborate and the atmosphere may be calmer, but we guarantee that the raw material is the same.
The water flows at about 40º in the Chavasqueira hot springs
Leslie Howard in A Capelada
The good thing about life is that it always surprises you. Who would have imagined that the actor Leslie Howard (yes, Ashley Wilkes from 'Gone With the Wind' ) was going to meet his death on the coast of Cedeira, in A Coruña. The explanation is World War II. The plane in which he traveled from Lisbon to Bristol, the Ibis, was shot down by the Nazis and sank off the Galician coast on June 1, 1943 . So far, the facts, and from there, legend and conspiracy theories , how much more bizarre, more exciting. Error of the Germans who thought they were sinking Winston Churchill but in reality they were attacking his double, who was, coincidence of life, Howard's accountant? Was the real target always the actor, who was actually a British spy? We can forge our own theory before the commemorative plaque located on the impressive cliffs that are the setting for this story.
Mouth of the Xallas river in Ézaro
A natural wonder that can only be seen on a few occasions thanks to the always "timely" hand of man. The course of the only river in Europe that flows into the sea through a waterfall it was altered to build a hydroelectric plant and the once spectacular drop was dried up. Leaving aside the considerations on this type of energy, it was clear that it was a decision, to say the least, questionable. Currently the reservoir is opened on specific days of the year and at a previously stipulated time . It is worth finding out in advance and traveling from nearby Fisterra to contemplate the spectacular waterfall from the viewpoint.
From the Ézaro viewpoint
The Betanzos Hobby Park
"Old-fashioned" falls short and that's why we love it. Its conception and construction belong to another time and to another mentality, the one that needed to build scale reproductions of the wonders of the modern world so that people who probably would never move from the place where they were born could also meet them.
Of the many stories of Galician emigration, that of the Garcia Naveira brothers It is one of the successful ones. They emigrated to Argentina from Betanzos at the end of the 19th century and after making a fortune they returned to their homeland converted into the Indian classics , those who built those precious fantasy houses that dot the north of Spain who establish schools for the children of their village or provide their villages with public sewerage. The García Naveiras were a little more creative and created, in 1893, the hobby park , a curious mix of educational theme park and open-air museum . Not many of its elements have survived the decline and abandonment, but you can still enjoy its caves, its Retiro mini-pond, its giant lions or the whistling “family tree of capital” . It's perfect for going back to those times when it was the airship, and not the bird, that was the technical prodigy that amazed the world.
The Retiro de Betanzos pond