Rural Spain Properties

AREA GUIDES >> RURAL PROPERTIES IN GALICIA

At a glance
photoThis northeast region is often compared to Ireland, Wales and Scotland for its lush, green land, granite villages and the Celtic roots and culture of its people. Apart from its fantatstic landscape, Spaniards hold Galicia in very high regard when it comes to food and white wines.

Despite bustling cities like A Coruña and Vigo, rural Galicia is still very traditional, don’t be surpirised if you see oxen and horses pulling a plough.

The four provinces that make up Galicia are - Lugo, A Coruña, Pontevedra and Ourense.

Properties
Galicia has a wide range of properties to choose from. The most popular being the elegant Pazos. Pazos are Galician country palaces that can be found all over the region and make elegant homes and fantastic hotels. The often stunning coastline makes coastal properties very sought after.

Airports
Santiago de Compostela airport now has several routes to the UK and Germany. While Porto, Oviedo and Valladolid airports are all within a reasonable distance.

Climate
Galicia’s generally cool climate makes it a haven in the summer from some of the stifling temperatures in Spain. The weather in the south of the region is generally milder than the north. Its winters are mild and unlike some of Spain’s parched regions, Galicia usually has a decent amount of rainfall.

A spot of history
photoFew visitors miss the region’s capital Santiago de Compostela – the final destination of the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage which has been made since medieval times to pay respects to the remains of St James (Santiago). His bones are allegedly buried in a crypt in the city’s 11th-century cathedral.

Santiago de Compostela also has a number of noteworthy buildings in its elegant square Praza da Quintana.

The Galician city Lugo shouldn’t be overlooked either, UNESCO-listed in 2000 for its Roman walls, which are dotted with monasteries and churches.

Culture
Farming, fishing and the gallegos’ general love of food and drink throw up regular festivals during the year.

While a “fiesta de la Exaltación de Marisco” celebrates shellfish, the Rapa das Bestas is a fiesta to mark the cutting of horse’s manes and tails.

The biggest festival is St James’ Day on 25th July, launched by fireworks the eve before and followed by general partying.

Food and drink
With some of the busiest ports in Spain located in Galicia, seafood lovers won’t go hungry. There is tremendous variety – from knobbly barnacles (percebes) to shore crabs (nécoras), razor shell clams (navajas), mussels (mejillones), cigallas (Dublin Bay prawns), and not forgetting octopus, which is often cooked in traditional copper pots called pulperías.

Since there are plenty of ties to Argentina where many Gallegos emigrated in poorer times, good quality meat is also prized here – try lacón (gammon) or head for the churrasquería (grill house) for boned steaks cooked on a traditional open grill.

Gallegos also like good stews and soups, empanadas (pasties usually filled with tuna and tomato) and pimientos de Padrón, fried green peppers.

Galician white wines, for long the whites of choice for Spaniards, are winning a deserved place on the world stage due to their crisp, aromatic flavours, accompanied by the of more sophisticated production methods in the last decade.

There are now five Galician DO wines: Rías Baixas, Ribeiro, Valdeorras, Ribeiro Sacra and Monterrei. One of the chief reasons Rias Baixas earnt its own denominacion de origen is the use of the Albariño grape variety, a native grape unique to the region which is delicate and difficult to cultivate, but which produces exceptional white wine.

photoNatural beauty
Bordered by Portugal, as well as the Atlantic and Cantabrian seas, Galicia boasts beautiful beaches, rocky inlets and charming fishing ports on the coast and gentle mountains and forests inland. An increasingly popular area with tourists is the striking coastline of the Costa de Morte in the north west of the region with it’s sprinkling of beautiful villages.