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Undiscovered Galicia

Undiscovered Galicia

Five hundred years after the golden age for Spanish Jewry was brought to a brutal end by the Inquisition, it is touching to find at least one long-gone community immortalised in pastry. In fact many kinds of pastries and desserts, still being faithfully turned out according to centuries-old Sephardic recipes at La Tafona de Herminia, a bakery in the tiny town of Ribadavia which proudly identifies itself with a Magen David.

Ribadavia
Ribadavia is a jewel in the crown of Galicia, a relatively undiscovered province of Spain in the extreme north-west corner of the country. Most famous for beautiful coastal scenery and surprisingly grand cities, Galicia keeps Ribadavia, which is somewhat off the beaten track, under its hat - though it does feature in an official brochure, The Routes of Sepharad, and the tourist office is thrilled to meet callers and talk them through the tiny heritage trail.

Ribadavia, which also has a small hotel, the Hotel Plaza (Plaza Major, Tel: +34 988 47 05 76) on the main square, with a pleasant restaurant in which to enjoy an alfresco lunch, and a bridge affording a beautiful riverscape and view of the town, sits between Santiago de Compostela and Vigo, each of which could detain the visitor for a couple of days apiece.

Santiago de Compostella
Santiago made its name on the unlikely myth of the apostle James being ferried all the way from Jerusalem in a stone boat and buried nearby, to have his 9th century grave discovered by a religious hermit following a “compostella”, or guiding star. But although modern-day pilgrims do still make their way to the astonishing gothic pile of a cathedral named for St. James, aka Santiago, this is a university town, and predominantly a place of young people.

Franco Street is lined with restaurants, of which the buzziest and nicest is the Terraza de 42 (Rua do Franco, 42), a modern offshoot of the well-regarded Meson de 42 down the road, which seems rather gloomy by comparison, though they share the same menu, and the food, as in everywhere tried and tested in Galicia, is simply delicious. While the observant will have to eschew the seafood for which the region is famous, and the huge ribs of beef and veal, there is always sea-bass on the menu and a variety of other fine, fresh permitted fish.

It would be a shame to leave town without a wander round the colourful covered market in the old city, presided over by tough old matrons who have schlepped their cheeses, honey and vegetables from the countryside to sell, before leaving for Ribadavia en route to Vigo.



Vigo
This lively port is a different kettle of fish, so to speak, from Santiago, but equally delightful. More young people, more buzz, but a much more urban setting. This is a prosperous city where people seem to hang out from afternoon into the wee small hours; a drink on one of the many convivial plazas is recommended, followed by dinner at the crazy-busy Rias Baixas on the Rua Argentina, where more delicious fish - with and without chips - is on the menu. As everywhere in Galica, delicious local white wine is available from about £6 a bottle to wash it all down.

The Coastal Villages
Vigo is also a great jumping-off point for the fishing villages of the west Galician coast, of which Camarinas is a pleasant place to stop for a lunch of the freshest catch imaginable. But some of the most dramatic scenery, characterised by beautiful forests which suddenly give way to coastal vistas, is on the northern coast. Here the lunch stop of choice is the elegant little beach town of Cedeira, and Betanzas and Pontedueme are also worth a stop and a stroll.

For these northern villages, La Coruña - which also has an international airport - is the best base. Named City of Glass for its thousands of multi-paned windows, this is a town of enormous sophistication and class. It has the Hesperia chain’s flagship five-star hotel, the Finisterre, which offers a really splendid breakfast and is a cut above the chain’s mid-range offerings in Santiago and Vigo.

Back in La Coruña, the big-deal square is the Plaza de Maria Pita, lined with restaurants housed in strangely identical greenhouses.

It’s handsome enough by day, but a far more atmospheric place to eat is the buzzy Calle Franja leading off the square, where the Meson do Pulpo (C/ Franja 9-11) is well worth a longish wait for a table (there are no queues before 9.30pm, shockingly early for dinner by Spanish standards).

FACT BOX:
British Airways (via its partner Iberia) serves Bilbao, Vigo and La Coruña via Madrid from around £90 one-way; Spanish airline Clickair (00 800 254 252 47, www.clickair.com) serves each of those cities direct from London from £25 one-way.

Hesperia Hotels (0870 225 4134, www.hesperia.com) offer rooms at the Peregrino in Santiago from around £68 double B&B, at the Hesperia Vigo from around £52 and at the Hesperia-Finisterre in La Coruña from around £78.

Holiday Autos (0870 400 0010, www.holidayautos.co.uk) offers one-way car hire within Spain from £17 per day.

© TheTravelEditor.com

Reproduced with the kind permission of TheTravelEditor.com

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