OReilly

Introduction

In August, I spent a few days touring Galicia. My brief sojourn hardly does justice to this region, with it’s astonishing physical contrasts of rugged coastal areas, luscious farmland, verdant forests and river gorges. Galicia has an abundance of medieval towns, modern metropolises, “sun and sea” holiday destinations and tiny insignificant hamlets. My ambitious plan was to sample the delights of all four regions and looked like this:

Day Zero: Take an evening flight to Madrid from London; stay at the Hotel High Tech near the airport.

Day 1: 9am flight to La Coruna. Stay at the EUROSTARS CIUDAD DE LA CORUNA. Spend the day exploring La Coruna

Day 2: Pick up the car at the airport and drive a very circuitous route (La Coruna to Pontedeume, Ortigueira, Viveiro, Montdonedo) along the coast to my final destination of Spa hotel in Guitiriz

Day 3: A relatively easy 3 hour driving time from Guitiriz through the interior to the Parador of Santa Estevo taking in Lugo and Monforte

Day 4: Explore the Ribeira Sacra and spend some time in Ourense and Ribadavia before driving to the Parador of Tui

Day 5: Drive from Tui to Santiago de Compestelo along the coast. Drop off the car at the airport and spend the night in the Parador in the centre of the old town

Day 6: Explore Santiago de Compostela and take an evening flight to Madrid and then on to London.

Before starting my trip report, which may end up being an epic, I will provide a synopsis for those of you that can’t be bothered wading through trip reports to find factual, planning details.

Let me start with Planning Details:

There is a dearth of information on Galicia in English. I started with Cadogan’s Guide to Northern Spain, which I had used on a previous trip to Asturias and Cantabria. Although I found the resource good for that trip, I found it had scant information on the Province of Galicia.

I contacted the Spanish Tourist information office and they sent me what was available, but it still did not provide sufficient depth.

Best information and advice I received was from Fodor’s posters – Maribel’s advice was, as always. the best source for my trip. Many thanks to all that responded to my requests for information.

OReilly

The Hotels:

Booking hotels in August in Galicia on short notice proved to be a nightmare! The entire population of Spain seems to gravitate to the cooler climes of Galicia. Most hotels demand a minimum of a three day stay and most are booked months in advance. Smaller establishments didn’t speak English and just ignored e-mail requests. Paradors take at least three days to respond to e-mails regarding availability. I sent out dozens of notes, with no response and thought I would have to either cancel the trip or sleep in my car.

Maribel recommended “Totallyspain.com” and I worked with them to arrange my accommodation. They were brilliant! I received responses back to my e-mails by the following morning.

Here is a short review of the hotels:

Hotel High Tech Madrid Airport (Four star). 120 Euros
The hotel is about 15 minutes from the new and spectacular Madrid Terminal 4 and provides a free shuttle. The hotel was obviously designed for a specific clientele: high tech nerdy types in the computer industry. All is black and glass and there is even an exercise bike in the room. Oddly enough, there is no WIFI access in the room, or at least wasn’t when I was there. Room is a bit depressing actually. The Tryp Diane is just down the road and is a far nicer hotel in the same price range. TV has Sky News, CNN. Can do better.

EUROSTARS CIUDAD DE LA CORUNA (Four Stars): 96 Euros
http://www.eurostarsciudaddelacoruna.com/

I had originally booked a five-star hotel at twice the price and discovered two days before I left that I had booked it for the wrong date! This hotel is located on the coast, close to the Roman lighthouse and a good 20-25 minutes walk from the old town, but taxis are cheap and there is also a tram service. Standard four-star hotel, very large room and bathroom, reasonably well-decorated, excellent value. Excellent breakfast buffet. WIFI available; purchase “time” from reception for a few Euros. TV has Sky News, CNN.

Balneario Hesperia Guitiriz (Four Star and then some!): Not sure, probably between 100-150 Euros, and worth every penny and more!
http://www.hoteles-hesperia.es/hotel...;fecha_salida=
http://www.totallyspain.com/aloja.as..._hotels_region

I booked this hotel as part of a package of hotels from Totallyspain.com, so I am not sure how much this hotel cost. The room and bathroom were both large and very well decorated. The air was clear and succulent. The spa looked incredible, but I did not have the time to take any treatments, but I have no doubt that sometime in the future I will be there again for a long weekend with the sisters getting spa’ed. There is a pool, sun-deck, golf (well, pretend golf, its only 9-holes), walks. Service is delightful; no-one speaks a word of English, but no matter, as they staff are so warm and friendly you’d hardly notice. Breakfast buffet superb. This is a one-stop, high-end, holiday destination for couples and families in an exquisite setting. A huge “thumbs-up” on this hotel – its worth flying to La Coruna or Santiago just to spend a weekend at this spot. European residents should consider this place for a weekend away with the girls for spa treatments. Thank you TotallySpain, I would never have found this without their help.

Parador Santo Estevo (Four Star PLUS x 10 to the power of infinity): From 140 Euros
http://www.parapromotions-spain.com/...to-estevo.html

WOW! Simply overwhelming! They gutted a Benedictine Monastery and a very clever architect turned it into a tasteful pleasure palace for well-heeled travelers in the 21st century. The surrounding countryside is so heart-shatteringly beautiful that one would be content to lodge in a tent just to drink in the beauty. The Parador interior is almost as lovely as its surroundings. What a sympathetic conversion – sheer genius! I cursed myself for staying only one night here – I would gladly buy a suite and remain here forever. Typical Parador service –friendly, warm and familiar. Beautiful walks through the property. Superb breakfast buffet. What’s WIFI, you are in the middle of nowhere darling! Dial up works if you have an international service (e.g. iPass). TV: No BBC, no CNN (although promised). Go out of your way to stay at this Parador. A huge “thumbs-up” on this hotel! Excellent base to explore the Ribeira Sacra.

Parador de Tui (Three Star Plus): 140 Euros
http://parapromotions-spain.com/parador/spain/tui.html

Situated just outside the town of Tui, within spitting distance of Portugal, this is a little jewel is working very hard to become a Four-Star Parador, and succeeding. I am not sure why, perhaps because I was the last person to check in, but I was given the very best room in the hotel – a two room suite with sufficient room and beds (one four-poster in the bedroom, one fold-out couch, on fold-out single in the living room) to accommodate five people, wrap-around balconies with views over the gardens and Portugal. It was defiantly the largest room I had on my journey – so large I felt lonely for my entire family! Service was as warm as it can get.

Parador de Santiago de Compostela: "Hostal dos Reis Catolicos": 200 Euros
http://parapromotions-spain.com/para...ompostela.html

You simply cannot beat this hotel for its location, décor and service. This parador is right next door the Cathedral; you just cannot get a better location than this in Santiago. I had a Superior room on the ground floor. There was no view, but I had the most enormous room, with four-poster bed, sitting area and magnificent architectural details. WIFI access is available for purchase from reception.

OReilly

Getting there was more difficult than I anticipated – in my worst nightmare!

You can plan for most things, but sometimes serendipity takes a hand, as it did with my choice of airport. Given the choice, I almost always fly from Heathrow, but for some reason and I don’t know why, I checked out flights from Gatwick on the BA website and discovered that the restricted Business Class fare was only about 90 Euros more than economy. This was reason enough to choose Gatwick over Heathrow. I booked my flight from Madrid to La Coruna and from Santiago back to Madrid for about 60 Euros each on the SPANISH Iberia website and discovered that the US version of their website does not offer the really low fares (these flight were about 4 times the price on the US website).

Little did I know at the time of booking that my decision to fly through Gatwick rather than Heathrow and to upgrade to BC firstly made my holiday possible and secondly made a difficult situation more acceptable.

I stayed overnight at the wonderful Sofitel at Gatwick airport. My plan was to check in for my evening flight at 7am and then go to my meetings, returning in time to have a drink in the BA lounge before boarding my 2040 flight. As I packed my bags on Friday morning at 6am, August 11th, the terrible news was delivered – a possible terrorist attack had been foiled and draconian rules had been imposed on carry-on luggage. Taking this in my stride, I revised my packing and ensured all liquid items were in my check-in luggage. I had meetings that day, so I kept my notebook and electronics in my roll-on.

I checked out of the hotel and headed toward the terminal. It was sheer bedlam. I was one of the lucky few aware of the problem, but thousands of other unfortunate travelers arrived at Gatwick knowing nothing. I could barely get through the throng, but eventually found my way to the BC check in. While thousands waited in line for the economy class check-in, there were perhaps 10 at the BC check-in. I stood in line for no longer than 10 minutes and checked in. I knew I would have to deal with the roll-on later in the day.

BA staff were doing their best, in difficult and unexpected circumstances, and were using megaphones to try to fast-track passengers to early departing flights.

I took the train to our office for my meetings and wondered if this trip was possible or even desirable now. I was fairly sure I would forfeit the cost of the hotels if I cancelled or even if I did not voluntarily cancel, I would not be able to get any money back if the terrorist threat meant the flight could not leave London.

I had several meetings in the office and everyone was aware of my circumstances. My colleagues came up with various “cunning plans” to get me to my destination if my original plan failed. To cheer me up, they brought me out to lunch. The rumor was (and there was much misinformation on the TV that day) that ALL flights from ALL airports in London had been cancelled indefinitely (which was untrue).

This trip was supposed to be relaxing, taking time out from the world. By the end of lunch, I had decided that it would not happen, I should cut my losses, accept that I would lose 850 Euros, book an early flight home. However, I had checked my bags and had to go back to Gatwick to retrieve them. I asked our PA to book me a room locally, just in case, and set out for Gatwick.

Gatwick was still crowded, but more organized. The airport authority and the airlines had called in all their staff (I found out later that many airline employees gave up their holidays to help out). I checked with the BC check-in and, as far as they were concerned the flight was still going. All domestic flights had been cancelled, a few continental ones also, but overall, most flights were taking off about 2 hours behind schedule. Not bad under the circumstances.

Checking my notebook, ipod, cell phone and camera was a gut-wrenching experience. I did as much as I could do to protect my chickens – I went to the “Left Luggage” store and had my roll-on “shrink-wrapped”, checked it in, and then took my place in the long line-up at security. I thanked the Gods I was in Merry England. The Brits were stoic and behavior was exemplary – what a fantastic race they are. Queues formed in an orderly fashion and everyone was polite, chatty and in a holiday frame of mind, as if nothing was untoward.

I spent a couple of hours in excellent BA lounge and my flight took off less than 90 minutes behind its scheduled time.

We arrived in the architecturally fabulous, newish Terminal 4 at Madrid airport waited and irritatingly 30 minutes for our bags. I picked up a cab to the hotel (High Tech Madrid Airport) and arrived close to 1 am.

Whoever categorized it as a FOUR star hotel, must have been chemically dependant or a computer geek. If you have to spend a night at Madrid airport, please consider the Tryp Diane or any other Four-Star hotel in the area. I as beyond exhausted at this point, but grateful I had made it this far. I was very grateful to the “powers that be” for guiding me to chose Gatwick over Heathrow: had I booked trough Heathrow, my holiday would not have happened and I would have lost a lot of money.

Next morning, I took the shuttle to the airport for a 9am flight. T4 is magnificent in every way – a destination in itself and one of the best looking airports I have been through. The shopping is probably as good as you can get in Madrid, but I did not have time to shop. If you travel through T4, I suggest you leave ample time for shopping.

The flight was delayed for over 45 minutes, can’t remember why, but we were kept informed, in Spanish and English throughout. I have always avoided Iberia, on advise from my Spanish colleagues, but I have no complaints at all with my experience on this trip.

OReilly

Day 1: La Coruna

The taxi from La Coruna airport to hotel cost 16 Euros and the journey took about 20 minutes.

EUROSTARS CIUDAD DE LA CORUNA (Four Stars): 96 Euros
http://www.eurostarsciudaddelacoruna.com/

I had originally booked a five-star hotel at twice the price and discovered two days before I left that I had booked it for the wrong date! This hotel is located on the coast, close to the Roman lighthouse and a good 20-25 minutes walk from the old town, but taxis are cheap and there is also a tram service. Standard four-star hotel, very large room and bathroom, reasonably well-decorated, excellent value. Excellent breakfast buffet. WIFI available; purchase “time” from reception for a few Euros. TV has Sky News, CNN.

I would stay here again for the price, but would probably have preferred the Five star hotel at twice the price.

Maribel had recommended lunch at the Playa Club and she has never steered me wrong, so I called the restaurant. The receptionist spoke no English and I have only a few words of Spanish, but between us, we managed – she spoke Spanish, I spoke English, we giggled a lot and I and booked a table for 1400.


Lunch at the Playa Club
http://www.playaclub.net/playaclub/restaurante

I took a taxi to the Play Club and arrived just as it opened at 1330. I was seated at the window, with a pleasing view of the beach and cove. The waitress provided me with an English menu, which was a relief. I ordered the Crunchy Shrimps and Spiced Mango Chutney to start and Hake with Roasted Tomato Juice, Snow peas & Cockles for the main course, a half bottle of local wine and large bottle of water.

The meal was memorable, the service impeccable and the view delightful. Another excellent recommendation from Maribel!


Exploring La Coruna

http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slidesho...ulp4l&Ux=0

After lunch, I spent a few hours exploring the city. La Coruna’s greatest claim to fame, or perhaps infamy, is that it is the birthplace of Franco. While it is very much a modern town, there is a small historic centre, which is interesting, but nothing I would go out of my way to see.

After exploring the old town, I walked back along the coast to the hotel. It was a brilliantly clear day, with temperatures in the mid-20s and there was a very strong wind blowing in from the sea. In the distance, I could see the smoke from the fires that were cutting a swath through Galicia and devastating the lush forests – such a tragedy.

I was physically and emotionally exhausted following my trials of the day before, so I decided on an early night. In my research, I did not get a warm feeling for La Coruna and would probably not have stayed there had I been able to book an hotel elsewhere along the coast. My visit confirmed my initial feelings. There is nothing wrong with it, its just not spectacular and there are far more interesting places in Galicia to explore. La Coruna airport is a perfect entry point to explore the Rias Altas, which I did the next day, but I suggest you can find better and more interesting destinations along the coast. In hindsight, I probably should have flown to Santiago and started my trip from there.

noe847

You had so much adventure before you even left the ground!

That August day was crazy indeed for travel (I thought it was Thursday, August 10?) My husband was scheduled to fly that day to join the rest of our family already on holiday in the UK. He also nearly cancelled his trip, but decided in the end to try - and took off 5 hours late.

OReilly

Yes, of course you are right noe, it was Thursday

cruiseluv

Hi Ger,

I'm enjoying your report very much. I share your feeling about Coruña. I went there last year as a day trip from Santiago. Nothing wrong with it, I just wasn't taken wit the place.On top of that, fog came down suddenly .

You mention the Spanish Iberia website. How is this accesed? Is it part of Iberia.com or a different website? Thanks.

Looking forward to the rest of your report.

OReilly

http://www.iberia.com/OneToOne/v3/home.do

Hi cruiseluv:

Try the above link and at the right hand side of the page, click on "English". In the box on the left-hand side of this, it allows you to choose your country. When I chose US (there is no Canadian site), I found the really low cost fares were not available.

For example, there is a fare of 29 Euros + taxes = 56 Euros (US$71), from Santiago to Madrid on the date I am returing to Madrid. If I close my country as USA, the lowest fare is US$136, plus taxes = US$168.

That's BIG difference!

cruiseluv

Oh yes, I see what you mean! Huge difference indeed!

I didn't realize that you could get domestic Spain flights by putting USA as your country.I lucked out that by pure chance I always chose my country as "Spain" as I thought I had to do that to get the domestic flights within Spain!

OReilly

Like you, I lucked out on my first search. Then I realized that there was the option of chosing your country. I tried USA and UK and found much higher fares. However, I was concerned that the lowest fare I purchased on the "Spanish" site would not be honoured at check-in. I posted a question about it on my Galicia planning thread and was reassured by Maribel that it was OK - which it was.

BTW, I asked my TA to check the same fare on her system (she can usually match any fare I can find on the internet) and the fare was about 7 times more!!!

cruiseluv

Oh my gosh!

It's good that now the information is here so other people will not pay more for their flights.

One problem I almost had this year with buying an e-ticket from the Iberia website: My son had to travel from Santander to Madrid to meet me. I was going to have him take the bus or train as usually Iberia airfares from Santander are prohibitive. One night I noticed a promo fare for around 50 Euros, taxes included. I was about to purchase it with my credit card and I noticed the note that said that at check-in you would be asked to show the CC you used to purchase it!
I have purchased Iberia e-tickets many times and never been asked to show the CC I used but didn't want to take chances.
I was about to give up on buying it ( since my son doesn't have a CC) when I thought of using his debit card ( which we had just gotten so he could use it as an ATM in Spain). It did work. And I was right in not using my CC as my son told me that when he checked-in in Santander for his flight the first thing they asked him was to show the card he used to buy the ticket.

ahdzp

About the IBeria website...

I was looking for a oneway ticket from CDG to MAD and it was 100+ euros, then I checked again to buy it and the same ticket was over 700 euros!

BTW, roundtrip is 128 euros

cruiseluv

Yes ahdzp,

That's what happened to my parents this summer when they bought their Iberia ticket from Rome to Madrid. They bought a R/T because the One way was so ridiculous!

The same thing happened to me last year in Spanair between Copenhagen and Madrid.

But in trips within Spain I have found that you're not penalized if you only buy a one-way.

marigross

bookmarking...work is interfering with my reading!

OReilly

My apologies for leaving it so long to update this report. My excuse is that I had such a wonderful trip to Galicia that I planned another weekend the following month to Avila, Salamanca, Burgos, Leon and small towns along the Camino de Compostela!

OK, to continue:


Day 2: Exploring the Rias Altas: Drive to Cedeira

Next morning, I took a taxi to the airport and picked up my mid-range Toyota (very nice car, a bit fat-middle-class and not nearly as lovely as the Passat I rented in Brittany) and set out on my journey to explore the Rias Altas.

It was Saturday morning in high tourist season, so I encountered quite a bit of heavy traffic in the early part of my journey, as I made my was through some of the larger towns. On the drive toward Ferrol, I had planned to stop at Ponteduem, but traffic was too congested to even contemplate this and frankly, I had had enough of large towns for now and yearned for the tranquility of the countryside.

So instead, I took the toll road directly to Ferrol, skirted the city and surprisingly found the C842 to Ortigueira quite easily. A few minutes into this delightful drive, and I finally felt on holidays. There were few cars on the road at all on that Saturday morning, which was an unexpected surprise. The road winds through small towns, farmlands and forests – an abundance of natural diversity in a small area. The forests were primeval, populated with oaks and what I originally identified as horse chestnuts. There were certainly some horse chestnuts, but there was also another variety that I have never seen before; primitive looking, with long, dark green leaves, heavily laden with a green “fruit” that resembles chestnuts. In the background, the densely wooded hills and mountains enveloped the landscape. The air was fresh and the temperature in the mid-20s - perfect weather. I was delighted at how peaceful it was, how removed from the modern world.

I was drawn to Galicia for several reasons. Firstly, it is a Celtic country - legend has it that one of the many Celtic invasions of Ireland was from its shores, which may account for the “Black Irish” look of Pierce Brosnan, Sean Connery, my DH etc.. To this day, the common bond of music survives. Also, one of the Cadogan Guide book described Galicia as the “Ireland of Spain”:

“If Asturias is the Spain’s Wales, then Galicia is many ways is its Ireland, for many years so far removed from Spanish life and history, it might just as well have been an Island. Here the Celtic invaders of 1000 B.C. found their coziest niche, in the same kind of rain-swept, green land facing the setting sun that their brethren had settled in father north in Brittany and Cornwall”.

There is obviously something in the melancholic Celtic soul that draws us to these landscapes, made green and fecund by constant rain, these cruel rocky coastlines that defined the end of the known Western world. Subsequent invasions, by newer and more aggressive tribes, drove the Celts to the far reaches of Europe (“To Hell or to Connaught” was Cromwell’s battle call during his blood-thirsty invasion of Ireland).

For a tourist, Galicia off what Ireland did over 20 years ago, but it is changing rapidly. There is so much construction happening, so much money being pumped into the area, I wonder if this Spanish Celtic tiger is finally waking up. Most of the construction appears to be condominiums for the well-heeled, which is unfortunate, as it offers little to the locals in terms of employment, other than low-salaried jobs in the tourist industry.

I wondered why so few foreign tourists have discovered this treasure of Galicia and assume it was because of its remoteness. Those who love driving in Italy, France and Ireland will be at home here. It has the same bucolic charm, yet in large part absent of the tourist hoards.

Where possible, I took the smaller roads that climbed and dipped through the hills. At times the driving was a little harrowing, as I climbed up the side of the mountain on roads with no barriers and sheer drops to the valley below. Away from the tourist towns, the area is sparsely populated.


Side track to Cedeira
The signpost to Cedeira was too tempting to resist and I was so glad I succumbed. I took the AC 646, a very small road, with same gorgeous landscape, but even more rural, smaller villages. Glimpses of the sea and seaside villages peeped in and out – absolutely divine! This made the shock of Cedeira all the more difficult to handle. The town was teeming with tourists. I am sure it has its charming features, but they were not apparent on that day. As I got to the centre of town, I took a sharp right out of it, following the signs toward Ortigueira. The confusion and cacophony disappeared in minutes. While Cedeira may benefit from a superb natural setting, as Maribel warned me, it is nightmarish in August - it was like hitting “Brigadoon’s” ugly, slutty twin.

lreynold1

I was so happy to see the second installment of this trip report, but now I see that the item is drifting down and down and down the list. Don't forget us, Ger! I'm sure I'm not the only one waiting and eager to read the rest of your trip report. I'm especially looking forward to what you have to say about the Ribeira Sacra, so keep those installments coming when you have time. Thanks so much.

OReilly

Hello lreynold1:

I am sorry this is taking me so long to finish this report. I’m afraid that work is interfering with my travel writing. L

I will try to add an installment this weekend.

Regards Ger

lreynold1

Ger, I know you are busy planning another trip to Spain. But if you ever have a free moment, I'd really love to hear your recommendations for what to do with a day or two in the Ribeira Sacra. I'm going to be in the parador Sto. Estevo in late March and am having trouble finding much information in the standard guide books. I booked it on the basis of your effusive praise! Many thanks, LR