Explore Northern Galicia

Northern Spain and Galicia particularly has long been an undiscovered jewel in the whole of the Spanish tourism industry and within that undiscovered jewel in particular we are going to take a look at Northern Galicia.

Overall of all of the autonomous regions of Spain possibly Galicia is the most remote and this makes Northern Galicia even more of an undiscovered treasure.

Traditionally, Galicia was seen as a poor agricultural region, whose economy did not lend itself to modernisation and yet as far as tourism is concerned it is this constant contact with the past that gives the region its appeal and charm.

The Galicians, whose origins are Celtic, are fiercely proud of their culture and language; it is what makes them unique (they feel) within modern day Spain.

It absorbed little in the way of outside influence being fiercely resistant to all forms of outside intervention (and we mean all forms of outside intervention), was never conquered by the Moors, and in the Middle Ages fell under the control of the kingdom of Asturias.

Thankfully slowly throughout the 20th century Galicia has begun to develop a way in which to manage the traditional lifestyles with a modern community to ensure that none of its rich history is lost and this is now starting to show very real and tangible benefits as far as the local tourism economy is concerned.

Northern Galicia covers an area north of a line to drawn from Santiago de Compostela in the West and Lugo and the Reserva Nacional De Os Ancares in the East.

If you include Santiago de Compostela in this region along with Coruna you actually have two of the biggest Cities of the region and two of the major tourist areas, the Costa de Morte and Rias Altas.

As has been mentioned, Santiago is the regions major tourist attraction and in many ways is the centrepiece of the entire region with regards to the “Way of Saint James” having routes leading to it literally from not only all of Galicia but from all of the Spain and beyond.

Other interesting towns and tourist destinations in Northern Galicia would consist of Lugo, Betanzos and Mondonedo. There is a nice coastal drive along the northern coast and the Rias Altas starting at Ribadeo in the East and travelling through Foz, Burela, Cervo, Viveiro, Ortigueira, Cediera and Ferrol finally arriving at Coruna in the west. As had been mentioned, this drive takes in the entire Rias Altas which is a beautiful area of the region in itself.

Heading westwards from Coruna you would then take in the area known as the Costa de Morta – the Coast of Death, so called because of the many shipwrecks found offshore.

The drive from Coruna takes in Caion and then leads slightly inland to Carballo before you arrive in Malpica. From there you would head south via Laxe and Camarinas arriving at the most westerly part of the Galician coastline in Cabo Fisterra. This drive is characterized by a wild and windswept landscape and the scenery is characterized by steep cliffs and a rugged coastline. Quite awesome natural beauty but also this has a strange feature in that at periodic intervals throughout the journey you'll find quite distinctive Cruceiros or Celtic crosses that indicate various stations of the Cross and in relation to this coastline where accidents and shipwrecks have occurred.

Scott James writes about a great many Internet Travel based issues and more on the above can be found at Accommodation in Galicia . For a more complete overlook at Tourism in Galicia try http://www.turgalicia.es