About Galicia

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Galicia was named after a tribal Bronze Age people called the Celtic Gallaeci who lived in the region from 1300 BC until around 137 BC when they were conquered by the Roman legions. This beautiful, green landscape remains a relatively undiscovered part of Spain, and still retains a feel of times long past. The inland countryside is a delight to explore. 

The villages and hamlets of small farming communities, scattered along winding country lanes and rolling fields of grazing cows, seem ancient, remote, decades away from the spaces that most of us inhabit. The dense green forests and rugged mountains, home to deer, wild boar and foxes, appear full of mystery and magic. Old Romanesque-styled churches and monasteries built out of granite and terraced vineyards cling to steep slopes of the Ribeira Sacra region along the majestically beautiful rivers, Rio Sil and Rio Miño. Closer to the the coastal areas, scattered throughout the region, are megalithic standing stones, menhirs, dolmens and stone circles, that go back hundreds of years. 

The impressive mountain chain, formed by the Sierra de Ancares and the Sierra del Caurel in eastern Galicia, gradually slopes down to its rugged coastlines to the west and north. The lower regions of the mountains are thick with forests of old chestnut trees, much prized in the past for their strength in holding up the heavy stone roofs that are favoured in this part of Spain. These parts of Galicia, the mountains and their foothills, with ancient chestnut forests, waterfalls and gushing streams of fresh, cold water and where the brown bear and the wolf still roam, are a paradise for the more adventurous and sturdy walkers.

The region around Casa da Cabaza, especially the province of Lugo with the Caurel geopark, As Ancares bioreserve and the Ribeira Sacra offers a great variety of well-indicated walking trails along a green landscape with shaded paths, spectacular views, indigenous forests (no eucalyptus but oaks and chestnuts instead), small villages and hamlets where time stood still, and a great biodiversity of animals and plants.

Galicia is famous for the Saint James’ pilgrim walking paths, or caminos de Santiago, that start as far as 1200km away in France and elsewhere throughout Spain, all converge in the beautiful, ancient city of Santiago de Compostela. The city’s spectacular Catherdral is the final destination of most walkers. In the distanct past the caminos mostly attracted religious Catholic pilgrims. The walkers of today, who herald from all over the world, tread these caminos also, perhaps, to connect with something a greater experience than what our daily lives might offer us.