3 Best Sights in Galicia, Asturias, and Cantabria, Spain

Padrón was the birthplace of one of Galicia's heroines, the 19th-century poet Rosalía de Castro. The lovely Casa-Museo Rosalía de Castro, where she lived with her husband, a historian, now displays family memorabilia.

Built in the late 19th century by Catalan architect Joan Martorell for the Marqués de Comillas, Palacio Sobrellano is an exuberant neo-Gothic mansion. It now holds surprising collections of sculpture and paintings as well as archaeological and ethnographic material. The chapel has benches and kneeling stalls that were designed by Gaudí.

The barons who ruled over Galicia's peasants and the rest of its feudal society lived in pazos like this one, 27 km (17 miles) southeast of Santiago de Compostela. Here you can stroll the gardens to the lily pond and lake, where a stone boat stays miraculously afloat.