Off to the Moto GP in Estoril this September and taking the P&O ferry. Was booked on the AT ferry until yesterday but after 4 weeks wait and several phone calls no email confirming booking so canceled. Have done the Picos and Pyrenees in the past so have decided to head West from Bilbao and wander towards Santiago De Compostella before heading South to Portugal. Have any of you well travelled chaps been down this way before and are able to suggest places worth visiting and places to stay. Will probably spend first night off the boat at Potes. Have been before so know the local hotels and fancy another go on the cable car just up the road. All suggestions gratefuly received.
Galicia
- Thread starter Gipsy
- Start date
Good small hotel in Ribadeo, on the Costa Verde, with amazing roads behind the coast. And Nice Hotel just north of Santiago. Both have garages. But thats from 26 years ago, so they may have changed since. Or even disappeared
I've been to Galicia in 2000 and 2002 - started in Ribadeo and followed pretty much the coastline. Even though they are deadend roads the stunning scenery at Punta da Estaca de Bares and Cabo Ortegal are worth a detour. El Ferrol can be bypassed IMO.
La Coruña might put you off, as it is quite a big city, but I liked it a lot - built on a peninsula you have the sea on both sides: one with an endless beach and the Domus museum (Casa del hombre), the other with port, castillo and beautiful old town.
Headed then to Santiago de Compostela straight away - must see in terms of architecture, atmosphere, people and wide range of accommodation and restaurants (try tarta de Santiago...
). However, that way I missed the Costa de la Muerte - a big mistake according to my Spanish teacher...
Cabo Fisterra should not be missed, be careful with service stations though (I had to ride quite a while at low revs until I found some fuel at the end of the world).
Further south along the coast (C-550) you should stop at Castro de Baroña and stroll through the foundations of an old Celtic village - very impressive.
Approaching Padrón try the famous Pimientos de Padrón - small green peppers only growing in this region, fried and sprinkled with coarse sea salt and just delicious). I can also recommend the traditional dish Pulpo á feira - boiled octopus tossed in oil and paprika.
The coast is still beautiful and offers great beaches and even the occasional pista (unless they have been all paved in the meantime...) but is very time consuming. So you can always cut short using the main roads if you run out of time. Pontevedra is worth a visit, Vigo is not so pretty.
I went to Baiona (fortaleza and playa) and carried on to A Guarda, the guardian at the border to Portugal. Great place: wonderful views from Monte Santa Tecla (with the additional benefit of the remains of another Celtic village), picturesque harbour and one of the best campsites of the whole journey.
If you want you can nip into Portugal at Tui (cathedral!) by using the old bridge that was built by Gustave Eiffel. I followed the river Miño northwards for a while and then went back into Galicia. The small town of Ribadavia has one of the oldest and best preserved/restored Jewish quarters in Europe.
After Ourense I decided to follow the river Sil upstream to see the breathtaking canyons (viewpoint Os Balcones de Madrid at Parada do Sil and nice campsite nearby) and just enjoy the meandering roads in this area.
One last highlight are As Ermidas - just leave the C-536 at A Pobra de Trives and head towards Manzaneda and then further east. Incredible tiny twisty roads that ultimately lead you to an impressive church in the middle of nowhere (As Ermidas). Shortly before you join the C-533 again you should stop and look back into the valley (how would I have loved to post some pictures here but I only took slides at the time...).
If you need further details just drop me a pm.
Have a great trip!
Ela
La Coruña might put you off, as it is quite a big city, but I liked it a lot - built on a peninsula you have the sea on both sides: one with an endless beach and the Domus museum (Casa del hombre), the other with port, castillo and beautiful old town.
Headed then to Santiago de Compostela straight away - must see in terms of architecture, atmosphere, people and wide range of accommodation and restaurants (try tarta de Santiago...
). However, that way I missed the Costa de la Muerte - a big mistake according to my Spanish teacher...Cabo Fisterra should not be missed, be careful with service stations though (I had to ride quite a while at low revs until I found some fuel at the end of the world).
Further south along the coast (C-550) you should stop at Castro de Baroña and stroll through the foundations of an old Celtic village - very impressive.
Approaching Padrón try the famous Pimientos de Padrón - small green peppers only growing in this region, fried and sprinkled with coarse sea salt and just delicious). I can also recommend the traditional dish Pulpo á feira - boiled octopus tossed in oil and paprika.
The coast is still beautiful and offers great beaches and even the occasional pista (unless they have been all paved in the meantime...) but is very time consuming. So you can always cut short using the main roads if you run out of time. Pontevedra is worth a visit, Vigo is not so pretty.
I went to Baiona (fortaleza and playa) and carried on to A Guarda, the guardian at the border to Portugal. Great place: wonderful views from Monte Santa Tecla (with the additional benefit of the remains of another Celtic village), picturesque harbour and one of the best campsites of the whole journey.
If you want you can nip into Portugal at Tui (cathedral!) by using the old bridge that was built by Gustave Eiffel. I followed the river Miño northwards for a while and then went back into Galicia. The small town of Ribadavia has one of the oldest and best preserved/restored Jewish quarters in Europe.
After Ourense I decided to follow the river Sil upstream to see the breathtaking canyons (viewpoint Os Balcones de Madrid at Parada do Sil and nice campsite nearby) and just enjoy the meandering roads in this area.
One last highlight are As Ermidas - just leave the C-536 at A Pobra de Trives and head towards Manzaneda and then further east. Incredible tiny twisty roads that ultimately lead you to an impressive church in the middle of nowhere (As Ermidas). Shortly before you join the C-533 again you should stop and look back into the valley (how would I have loved to post some pictures here but I only took slides at the time...).
If you need further details just drop me a pm.
Have a great trip!
Ela
Thanks to you both for the replies. Just the sort of info I was hoping to get. It appears that most tossers head the other way.
nemisis
Guest
went to the estoril gp a few years ago,great track and atmosphere,am planning a trip there again this year so we might bump into each other.cant add much to the above posts but gijon is a nice place,kinda like a cleaner barcelona without all the homeless beggars.we stayed in a place called sintra about a mile from the gp track which was very nice,also it seemed a very popular gathering place for all the bikers in the run up to the gp so the atmosphere was good but busy during the day.
Thanks for that nemesis. Haven't started to look for accommodation in Estoril as yet. Wondering what bike access to the track is like, or perhaps more correctly what it's like leaving the track at the end of the racing? Is Sintra close for a walk into the racing? Keep in touch as we may be able to meet up.
Hi
If you take the n634 from Bilbao and you just follow the coast, avoiding as much as possible the motorways, you can find amazing places.
Food is great specially fish and seafood and cheap for British.
Llanes, in ASturias and also Ribadesella can be interesting. They are like 130 and 150 miles from Bilbao. From Ribadesella you can head to Cangas and the Asturias Picos side.
I don´t know. There is something nice almost every mile.
Try to visit Oviedo (200 miles from Bilbao). Historic city with great night atmosphere.
Galicia is most the same. More "rural", no sot developed, more authentic if you want
In the way back, I suggest you to do the "camino de Santiago" from Galicia to Burgos for example and them from there to Bilbao. Very nice roads, incredible atmosphere with the "peregrinos" and something "special" in the air.
In Asturias and Galicia, you can find accommodation in something called "casas rurales". http://www.turispain.com/idioma/en/index.asp
Some years ago, specially in the north of Spain, some of the "listed" buildings were falling down. They were expensive to maintain, most people moved from the rural areas to the city so the government tried to help the owners to keep them opened, giving low interest mortgages to refurbish them and keep them alived. Some became museums but most became "casas rurales" (rural houses). They are small hotels where you can get a room or the whole house. You can find authentic palaces to stay for the price of a B&B. Bargain.
You need to book in advance.
Cheers
Oscar
If you take the n634 from Bilbao and you just follow the coast, avoiding as much as possible the motorways, you can find amazing places.
Food is great specially fish and seafood and cheap for British.
Llanes, in ASturias and also Ribadesella can be interesting. They are like 130 and 150 miles from Bilbao. From Ribadesella you can head to Cangas and the Asturias Picos side.
I don´t know. There is something nice almost every mile.
Try to visit Oviedo (200 miles from Bilbao). Historic city with great night atmosphere.
Galicia is most the same. More "rural", no sot developed, more authentic if you want
In the way back, I suggest you to do the "camino de Santiago" from Galicia to Burgos for example and them from there to Bilbao. Very nice roads, incredible atmosphere with the "peregrinos" and something "special" in the air.
In Asturias and Galicia, you can find accommodation in something called "casas rurales". http://www.turispain.com/idioma/en/index.asp
Some years ago, specially in the north of Spain, some of the "listed" buildings were falling down. They were expensive to maintain, most people moved from the rural areas to the city so the government tried to help the owners to keep them opened, giving low interest mortgages to refurbish them and keep them alived. Some became museums but most became "casas rurales" (rural houses). They are small hotels where you can get a room or the whole house. You can find authentic palaces to stay for the price of a B&B. Bargain.
You need to book in advance.
Cheers
Oscar
nemisis
Guest
if i remember correctly sintra was about a mile from the track,easy walking distance.parking for the cicuit was ok albeit on dirt carparks so take a sidestand puc,it lashed it down all day in 2002,traffic wasnt a major problem as the continentals took their usual common sense approach to traffic management (a kind of organised chaos) and it kept moving as we left the cicuitit,tickets for the gp worked out at about £19 for a three day ticket.i cant say about accomadation as we stayed with friends of my wifes family in sintra.will look forward to maybe meeting for a beer or two.
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