The Galician capital is Santiago, a Christian place of pilgrimage from the Middle Ages, and a city with a singular medieval attractiveness in its old quarter. The cathedral presides over the city from the baroque Obradoiro facade, which hides the Romanesque Gloria Arcade. Behind the arcade, the Romanesque temple extends into a cross form; in the back, on the greater altar, the image of Saint James, which is possible to be accessed through a corridor that opens from the ‘girola’. Every year, during the Saint James festivities it is possible to see the ‘botafumeiro’, a gigantic censer handled by eight men who oscillate through a cross-sectional plant of the cathedral, in action. In the old district of the city architectonic jewels like the Fonseca School can be admired, as well as the School of San Jeronimo or the Catholic Kings Hotel.

In the north of the same province lies the city of Corunna, the financial capital of the region and the place where the Tower of Hercules is located, a Roman lighthouse, where there used to be a Celtic church, and emblem of the city. Riazor beach occupies the northern border of the city. Another Galician town is Lugo, the place of the primitive Celtic establishment of Lug. Romans constructed a great wall that surrounds all Historical district and is the best conserved in Spain.

Rural tourism is booming at the moment in Galicia. More than 150 rural houses scattered by all over Galician landscape are made ready to welcome travellers. The constructions destined for this type of tourism can be divided into three categories: ‘pazos’, rural houses and farm houses. This division is made on basis of the number of services given and their luxury. In addition to ‘pazos’, typical Galician noble constructions, castles, monasteries and villas, are also included in the first group. The second is made up of village houses, of typical rustic construction. Finally, the farm houses are also rustic but they have the option to participate in agricultural or cattle tasks, which are otherwise reserved to the proprietors.

[Autonomous regions]       [1 2 3]

Hotels in Santiago de Compostela

Restaurants in A Coruña

Pulpo a la Gallega