Villages in the Ancares
We know that Galicia It is also mountain and snow , but it's not something that comes up much in bar conversations. Ok that it rains a lot here and it's cold , but that can be overcome if they take you to the coast to watch the sunset while you are in the middle of a feast.
Walks along the beach in summer are reason for parties and youthful romances of beardless faces that blush in the slightest breeze, and **winter walks on the beach** are for remember those summer stories while the cold invites you to come home and watch a movie hugging a blanket.
However, those of us who are from the mountains do not blush so often. We are elusive and little given to public appearances . Here, the snow, like the light, rarely comes out on stage. We are isothermal throughout the year and we keep our composure well when there is a downpour.
The people of the Galician mountains are isothermal all year round
We live in constant hyperbole . The mountain, we know now from the hipster aesthetic of bearded man in plaid lumberjack shirt , sometimes it can be hostile territory. And the beach, well, the beach is ideal to spend between ** crabs and white wine **. But if what your body asks for is a good stew and some (few, very few) iced coffee liqueur glasses well...
The mountain here was the last refuge of the Celts . It happened when they arrived the Romans and those of the Gallic village They saw that they could no longer resist. Legend has it that the last were gathered together and took their own lives before falling to the invader. It is a difficult area, wild and very wild ('rustic', for the uninitiated).
Are here some of the oldest stones on the planet Y people and ways of living that, sometimes, border on survival. Well that was before. Times have changed for the better and now we call it "mountain getaway" , either "how to survive the snow without wifi connection".
Villages in the Ancares
But you have to warn the adventurer or adventurer that before leaving on a trip you have to take a look at the weather. It is not going to be that the devil passes through the area and leaves us more frozen than Superman's loft.
Pedrafita do Cebreiro It is the first Galician town on the French way to Santiago de Compostela. and cross it in winter it's like being in the shoes of Christian Slater in The Name of the Rose while the fog wakes your face. Founded in about year 863 , keep the mythical pallozas and its church is pre-Romanesque, from the 9th century.
It is a town made of stone and cold white mist that surprises you when you enter a house and its thick walls withstand subarctic temperatures to open up a world of warm and close people.
Yes, a little advice. We are in a war zone warm and close people need time. You can't give a dementor a hug without first striking up a conversation over a fire.
Pedrafita do Cebreiro in winter
Is a small village of just over a thousand inhabitants that was born after discovering here the tomb of the apostle . Its relevance increased after the Miracle of the Holy Grail. What was a place of passage along the old Roman road that led from Triacastela to Astorga It became a place of worship.
Now there are even legions of pilgrims who stop just for the views, the cheese and the feeling of being in the Middle Ages. The high of san roque and the Alto do Poio they are authentic encounters with the Universe. Cebreiro cheese has D.O., and it is very typical and original, above all because it is shaped like nuclear mushroom. It is made from cow's milk and was already appreciated by ancient kings.
To the north of Pedrafita is Piornedo. It's like entering the village of Asterix and Obelix without that false feeling of amusement parks that simulate fantastic places. everything is real here and Piornedo has one of the best preserved pallozas.
Piornedo, the village of Asterix and Obelix
Very close is the mustard , the highest peak of the Ancares (1924 meters) but if you do not want to do mountain climbing, in the upper part of the town, very close to where the path that leads to the top of this peak begins, is The canteen . Place of worship and retreat for waves of pilgrims and visitors seeking refuge and home made hot food . But homemade homemade. Come on, some fried eggs with potatoes and chorizo appeal.
Another reason to enjoy an afternoon of lust and passion with massive amounts of pay TV, steaming blankets and cups of Galician broth It is the ** hotel Piornedo ,** whose rooms have views that will not leave you indifferent.
Homemade broth with cabbage at Hotel Piornedo
If you prefer something further south, **near the border with our neighbor Portugal**, to the unsuspecting young people from the coast who had not seen the snow or on television, the school took us on an excursion to Manzaneda . Specifically, we were going to apple head , the ski resort.
very close, in the Souto de Rozabales , this the largest and oldest chestnut tree in all of Galicia . Is he castiñeiro of Pumbariños and has over 500 years , which is said soon, although there are those who affirm that it can have a millennium. And they make you want to do what the father of the great José Saramago did: hug him .
An experience to keep in mind is eating at ** Casa do Agenor , in Cova**, very close to Manzaneda, at the foot of the ski resort. Although they have a menu, the house menu is more than recommended: sausages, meat with chillies, fried trout and dessert.
Castineiro de Pumbariños
Over the years you pay less attention to sliding down the slope on a sled to get closer to Poor Trives, which is less than 20 km. A Pobra de Trives is a place for restless people.
From these parts we know figures like o Adolfo Dominguez, Jose Salgado (who emigrated to Buenos Aires to found a chocolate factory) and the famous doctor Elena Ochoa . Yes, yes, that presenter of the program let's talk about sex of TVE in the 1990s, the first to be made on television and that left the families who watched it (because before TV was seen in a group) ojiplático.
In Trives they do a bica that you die , have a millennial bridge Y a rock so big that people built houses at its feet . The bica It is a dessert very similar to any sponge cake, with eggs and sugar, but a little denser. Sometimes so dense that it absorbs light z. It is a classic in Galician cuisine, which is the delight of those of us who go into berserker and, after a superlative meal, we decided to end it with a pota coffee and a good piece (approximately, I don't know, half a hectare) of bica.
A gastronomic landmark where you can delight yourself is the ** Hostal La Viuda ** _(rúa Rosalía de Castro 17) _ where you can go blind with a good stewed meat or some tripe . It is homemade food carried by several generations for six decades.
Ponte Bibei of Pobra de Trives
The Roman bridge is Ponte Bibei, from 114 AD. C ., of the time of Trajan, and it is one of the best preserved in Galicia. It was part of the tour linked Braga with Astorga . It is practically a flat building, which is impressive, since it is a place in the very mighty and complicated river , which suggests that it was an expensive work.
And the stone is Pena Folenche . There, in addition to the immense stone that serves as Navea Valley viewpoint , are they chestnut dryers, the "sequeiros".
They are elongated stone houses that were used to dry the chestnuts that were collected, since the chestnut was a primary food until the arrival of the potato. They took care only for two months a year, not only of the townspeople, but also of the surroundings.
They came, they were given shelter and they worked together. To be able to eat, to be able to live in the mountains.