Galicia is one of my favourite regions in Spain, despite the cooler temperatures. One of my uni friends is from here and I've visited the region a few times - it's the namesake of my favourite beer (Estrella Galicia) and I'm always happy to return.
I often spend my study leave in Porto, Portugal, where some of my family live, and this was the plan for April 2023 too, however my company decided to implement a new policy preventing studying abroad (annoyingly we were only told of this after I'd booked my flights). I'd planned to spend 9 days in Portugal with my cousin, including a weekend over the border in Galicia, Spain, which included a day trip to some islands and a day in Vigo. Since we'd already paid for everything, I shortened my trip to just 3 days, keeping the weekend in Spain.
Las Islas Cíes
After work on the Friday, I headed to Stansted, only to find that my flight had been delayed by 3 hours, meaning that instead of landing at 11pm, I landed at 3am. This made my 6am wake up the following day much harder, but I'd managed to sleep on the flight and I slept a bit on the morning coach to Vigo. During our journey, we overheard some Spaniards comment 'Portugal es una mierda', which was humbling and unwelcoming but we trooped on.
Once we arrived in Vigo, we took a taxi to the port as we were running late for our ferry, but thanks to Spain's lax culture, the ferry was also delayed meaning that we made it. An hour on choppy waters later and we'd finally made it to the Cíes Islands for around 11am (Spanish time).
The Cíes Islands are three deserted islands off the coast of Spain with pristine waters and white, sandy beaches. The number of visitors is highly controlled and a limited number of people can stay overnight (and even then this is only permitted during the summer months and over Holy Week). My cousin and I had both been wanted to go for a while and decided to do a day trip in low season to avoid the crowds. Luckily, our ferry tickets also included a guided tour, allowing us to get our bearings and learn about the islands instead of simply roaming around.
On this tour, we learned that eucalyptus trees are adapted so that when they are burnt (often annually in forest fires throughout the Iberian Peninsula), they in fact re-sprout, leading to an increased population, which helps to explain why they burn so easily. We also learnt that the largest colony of seagulls in the world resides on these islands, and that the red spot on their beaks is what their younglings peck to indicate that they are hungry. We were told that only three people live on these islands year-round and there aren't any rubbish bins on either the islands nor the ferries so it's necessary to carry your rubbish around with you. The tour was very interesting and forced me to practice my Spanish, which I enjoyed, however as the morning's clouds dissipated, our hike to a viewpoint became slightly uncomfortable as the heat and hunger settled in. Nonetheless, the views were well worth it and we had lunch over a gorgeous landscape (luckily my cousin had used her initiative and packed us some lunches, as the options on the island were very limited).
We spent the afternoon on the beach, which was idyllic, however the icy waters only allowed for us to dip our toes in (others were braver however). We got the ferry back to Vigo at 6pm and despite our short stay, I'd strongly recommend visiting these beautiful islands.
Vigo
We were staying overnight in Vigo, where my cousin had spent a weekend in December and enjoyed greatly as the city is renowned for its Christmas spirit. After visiting the islands, we were excited for dinner but most restaurants only opened at 8pm, so we snooped about some bookshops (as I wanted to buy a book in Spanish), before heading to a restaurant. I wanted only two things from this trip: a pint of Estrella Galicia (it has to be Galicia, as I'm not a fan of Damm) and croquetas de jamón; we managed to get both of these at Taverna Eligio, alongside octopus (pulpo a la gallega), which we enjoyed greatly.
The next morning we'd planned to sightsee, as well as do some shopping and have a look at more bookshops; this plan was quickly shut down when we realised that shops were closed on Sundays in Spain. This meant that my idea of buying a book in Spanish went out the window, and we'd only able to stop at cafés and restaurants for breaks.
That said, we managed to see a lot, including Castelo Castro, a hill fort with a fantastic view of the city, the co-cathedral of Santa María, and the many green spaces and statues dotted around the city (including one of Luís de Camōes, a famous Portuguese poet). My favourite statues were of a man heading towards the ferry terminal, with his family members seeing him off in dedication of the region's emigrants, and of Jules Verne (the author of 'Around the World in Eighty Days') on a giant squid by the seafront.
One thing I loved about the city was the abundance of families and dogs in the parks and cafés, and it was actually quite refreshing to see everyone fully relaxing on a Sunday without any rush. We had brunch at 'La Cultural', which was perfection, followed by a late lunch in 'Bar Chavolas', which I'd strongly recommend, as well as some pistachio ice cream in the afternoon from 'La Fabbrica del Gelato', which was technically Italian but delicious nonetheless. Granted, we soon ran out of things to do and when it got to the point where we'd visited the same streets multiple times, we decided to simply head to the train station in anticipation of our train. One thing I noticed immediately about Vigo was the density of buildings in such a small area.
We arrived back in Porto by 10pm, and still managed to see my aunt and uncle quickly, which was lovely, before heading home to quickly pack and sleep before waking up at 4pm for another early morning flight.
I definitely think a weekend was enough for Vigo and the Cíes Islands, however they're both worth a visit if you're in the area, and Galicia should definitely be on your bucket list if you haven't been yet as the region has a lot to offer and receives fewer tourists than rest of the country.
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