Boat Trips from Belesar: Ribeira Sacra by Water
Belesar is one of the main departure points for boat trips through this stretch of the Ribeira Sacra, and it’s easy to see why. The village sits right on the Miño, surrounded by the terraced vineyards this region is known…
Using AI and Drones to Fight Wildfires
We moved to Ribeira Sacra in January, which makes this our first summer here, and our first real introduction to what fire season actually means in rural Galicia. We’ve watched the hills turn from green to that brittle, straw-yellow colour,…
Wildfires in Galicia
Summer in Galicia comes with a backdrop most people don’t expect when they picture this part of Spain: wildfire season. We’ve now seen it twice, both times as smoke rising from somewhere in the distance, never close enough to feel…
Wildlife in Galicia
Galicia is greener and wetter than most people picture when they think of Spain, and that shapes what lives here. The dense oak and chestnut forests, the countless rivers running down from the interior toward the coast, and the general…
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Ourense: The Thermal City of Inland Galicia
Most visitors to Galicia head straight for the coast or for Santiago de Compostela, which means Ourense often gets skipped entirely. That’s a shame, because Ourense is one of the few cities in Europe where hot mineral water still rises…
Monasteries of the Ribeira Sacra
The name Ribeira Sacra means “sacred riverbank,” and once you’ve driven along the Sil or Miño canyons for a while, the name stops feeling like marketing. Monks and hermits settled in these hills between the 9th and 13th centuries, often…
Fervenza de Fondós: The View You Won’t See From It
We almost drove past Fervenza de Fondós the first time, and in a way that is the whole point of the place. It sits tucked into the parish of Erbedeiro, in the municipality of Carballedo, in the Chantada area of…
Camino Pozas de Melón and the Tourón Waterfall
Melón is a small municipality in the province of Ourense, along the river Cerves. We went there for one reason, to walk the trail that follows the river to the Pozas de Melón and on to the Fervenza de Tourón,…
Praia da Cova: A River Beach in the Heart of the Ribeira Sacra
Somewhere between the reservoirs of Belesar and Os Peares, the river Miño widens enough to fit a small beach. It is called Praia da Cova, in the municipality of O Saviñao, not far from the meander everyone around here calls…
