Nigran, Panxon, Prado

It's hard to get an early night on this coast, the sun set last night at 10.10pm!   Yikes.  It still feels like play time when we really should be tucked up in bed. 

We have been winding our way up the coast, keeping the sea on our left shoulder as we head north.  What a fantastic coast line, bay after bay of golden sand beaches, small harbours that are dotted with local fishing boats, wide comfy boardwalks and just the right amount of cafes for rest stops.

 The topiaried Pohutukawa trees look fantastic! 

It looks like this may be an area with a lot of retirees. It's great to see so many seniors out each day walking the beach, carrying folding chairs down to the beach and soaking up the sun and sea breezes. Many small apartment  buildings are close to the beaches so the beach I guess becomes  an extension of their homes. 

The Cathedral of Panxon hails back to  an original 7th century church, unfortunately the arch is pretty much all that is still standing, 

The new Panxon Cathedral (circa 1930's) today sits proudly atop a small hill behind the beach village. It was designed by the famous  Spanish  architect Antonio Palacios Ramilo.

Palacios tried to preserve something of the old church using the 7th century  arch to inspire his design. There is a 30 metre tall tower to serve as a guide for sailors  at sea to find their way back to the small sheltered harbour.

The interior is quite beautiful with ceramic mosaic tiles used for the dome and ceiling decorations. The church is dedicated to the Virgen del Carmen (Virgin of the Sea). Appropriate for a fishing community. 

The church was built from donations from the residents of Nigrán who brought fragments of old buildings or ruins to the site that were used to build the church.

 

The mosaic work is really quite stunning, the photos don't  do it justice.

 

Architecture is always interesting as you walk between areas. There's a mix of traditional Galician seaside homes, old castles, newer low cost apartments and then we came across what looked like a stage set for the film Zoro. Half expected Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones to come bustling out of the Edificio  San Juan! 

Beautiful beaches we walked beside/on the last few days. Last night two lovely ladies, approx 75+yrs old I'm guessing, came down to the beach front in their normal house clothes and handbags and started dancing on the promenade to the music from a local bar - completely in their own world, getting exercise beside the sea in the sunset - perfecto! 

Came across a small surf academy on Patos beach. The water temps are still not that high so everyone was in wetsuits. I don't blame them, I think it takes a whole lot of sun to heat up the Atlantic ocean.

Enjoying what each day brings, soaking up the cultural and history and enjoying our conversations with locals where we use as much Spanish as we can, lots of sign language and smiles....it mostly works out pretty well.

Beautiful Baiona

Last time we were in Baiona in 2016 we literally walked into the village, had a shower, had dinner, slept and then walked out the next day. This go round,  older and wiser, we decided to park our backpacks and spend a few days seeing much more of this beautiful, historic, seaside village.

We rented a small apartment located at the end of the village,  alongside a pretty, local beach, Ladeira praia. It's beautiful and quiet, has the necessary supermarket and is a mere  15 min walk along the prom to the main old town.

The old town is curved around a small sheltered harbour and marina.

   

There is an historic fort,  defence battlements and watchtower that once  guided ships and alerted villagers to incoming invaders. 

The fortifications are still spectacular having weathered hundreds of years of Atlantic storms, they knew how to build to last back in the day.

You can take a walk around the lower level sea side path or walk the ramparts and fort defence walls. 

Even on the sea path, outside the massive ramparts, there were lookout stations/fortifications for first line attacks of invaders - a sophisticated defence system!

Always liking a view,  we walked the ramparts. Great views back to the inner harbour and old quarter. 

  You also get a chance to eyeball the fancy Parador / hotel.

You could spend a few hours just wandering the old town's cobblestone lanes. 

There are so many terrific historic buildings dating back to the 1500's, there's a cloistered convent founded in 1547, the Third Order of Penance of St Francis.

 Once a week you can still buy home made sweets the nuns sell to the public from a window into the street.

Plenty of outdoor cafes if you need a rest from all the walking and history.

As we walked along the promenade there were Pohutukawa trees in bloom! Turns out there is a bit of controversy about the beautiful Pohutukawa. It's definitely native to New Zealand, no questions there. However there is a Pohutukawa tree that is allegedly 500yrs old in A Coruna, which if correctly age-dated means that early voyagers visited NZ and brought back seeds to Europe 200+yrs prior to NZ's first accepted European visitors. It's an ongoing 'discussion' between the tree experts and of course to be 100% certain requires a core sample which as a protected tree is not possible.  However super lovely to see them in bloom right along the seafront. 

Having a Camino break doesn't mean a break from walking, we've clocked up the miles each day as we explore this gem of a village. From our apartment we walked in the opposite direction of the old town,  along the seafront to a beautiful tidal estuary alive with bird and marine life.

The tidal flats were teaming with crabs, small schools of fish nibbling the rock seaweed and white egrets hunting for a feed.   

Gotta love a good estuary - gorgeous!

So many golden sand beaches,  which as the summer proper comes along,  will be filled with sunbathers, swimmers, sailors and kite surfers.

Every so often in a garden you'll spot a traditional  Galician grain horreo, above ground to stop the beasties getting at the harvest.

Another day we walked to a hill on the edge of the village to see the magnificent Lady of the Rock / Virgin de la Roca. She stands  on rocks high above the entrance to the harbour and watches over ships and sailors, if you zoom in on the pic you may be able to see the boat she holds in one hand. 

You can climb up an internal staircase and stand in the boat, the views are spectacular from up there.

For the foodies the speciality of the region is of course fresh seafood. 

There's even a Michelin star restaurant here. Not quite on a Michelin star budget, we managed to find some lovely cafes serving beautiful local produce. The grilled calamari is like velvet here, delicious!

We discovered clams are pretty good here too!

A Guarda folk festival

A day off the trail in A Guarda to dry out shoes and to have some down time for admin tasks and hand washing.

We wondered into the main square just as a traditional folk festival was starting.

These gorgeous ladies sang and played the tambourine while young girls performed traditional dances. What a treat! Gorgeous colours and singing and fantastic tambourine playing.

What do you do when you are not walking on the trail? You walk in the village, there's always walking to be had and it feels fantastic walking without a 9kg backpack, quite freeing really :)

We walked  out to the end of the breakwater and marveled at the strength of the old sea walls to protect the fishing fleet from the often wild Atlantic sea. The fishing fleet is old and it looks like a tough life to an outsider. They have a big lobster festival here in August which I imagine would be a fantastic experience to be a part of. 

All the villages and towns on the Camino have churches or cathedrals and A Guarda has a lovely old church too. You could  get a bit 'over-churched' but you always get a surprise at how different they are once you step inside, some grand, some simple and of course you can't help but marvel at the mastery of design and decoration that has lasted hundreds of years.

 

Our digs just happened to be an old convent that had been converted to hotel accommodation. Gorgeous antiques, lovely salon, peaceful and quiet and a perfect place to relax away from the trail.

Of course we took up the offer of a welcome port and sweet pastry in the salon, it would have been rude not to :)