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!