An old tradition prompts pilgrims to extend their Camino de Santiago to
Fisterra
, "where the land ends and the sea, which never ends, begins to hurt and fall in love", as Camilo José Cela wrote in
Del Miño al Bidasoa
.
Upon reaching this town of A Coruña, the ritual requires bathing, burning clothes on the way and watching the sun sink into the ocean.
But there is much more to do at the end of the world.
9.00.
Dunes and waves like mountains
Bathing in Fisterra will be in summer.
The rest of the year you want to walk on the beach more.
In
Langosteira (1)
, which faces east, we will see the Sun rise placidly over the Corcubión estuary.
In the one at
Mar de Fóra (2)
, which looks to the west, to the open ocean, we will see waves like mountains.
Here the wind has formed dunes up to eight meters high.
This wild sandy area is ideal for taking long walks along its shore (it measures 550 meters), which can be extended along a coastal path to the
Rostro beach (3)
.
They are 9.5 kilometers (three and a half hours, one way) walking along cliffs and corners as far away as the
Arnela cove,
where the
Casón was
shipwrecked in December 1987
.
Both Rostro and Mar de Fóra are great for surfing.
Courses and equipment rental, at
Surf Costa da Morte
, on the nearby
Nemiña beach (4)
.
enlarge photo The Cape of Finisterre.
getty images
11.00.
Fishing or diving?
The
castle of San Carlos (5)
, built in the mid-18th century to defend the Corcubión estuary, houses
the Fishing Museum
(627 23 97 31), a small place made great by its guide, the sailor and poet Francisco Manuel López Martínez.
To go fishing,
Fish-Terra
(649 16 45 20) offers everything: boat, rods, bait and skipper.
If we prefer to see the fish in their element and the boats that have sunk in these waters, we will go out with the
Finisterre Diving instructors
.
Laminar forests, cetaceans, a cave where fish almost collide with divers ... A very lively coast to be called
Costa da Morte
.
The Xallas River flows into a waterfall, that of Ézaro (in the photo), which can also be seen from the water.
Kayak Ezaro
12.30.
Kayaking to the waterfall
In front of Fisterra, on the other side of the Corcubión estuary, rises
Mount Pindo,
the Olympus of the Celts, a granite rock through which the Xallas River slides down to the sea, giving a final 40-meter jump.
There are few rivers flowing into cascades.
You can walk to the waterfall in five minutes from the
Ézaro marina (6)
along a wooden walkway.
Another way to get closer is by kayak along the Ézaro estuary, nailed to a Norwegian fjord.
AdventurÉzaro organizes guided tours and rents kayaks (single, 20 euros; double, 30).
14.30.
Delights of the sea
In the
Plaza de la Constitución (7)
, next to the
tourist office
(627 23 97 31), you will find
Etel & Pan
(etelandpan.com), a small overseas tavern where everything is handmade and everything is
delicious
, especially the bread, the aioli potatoes, the Fisterra mackerel burger and the cheesecake.
Another place that leaves your mouth open is
La Bayonnaise 1803
, a restaurant decorated as if it were the homonymous French ship that was shipwrecked that year in Fisterra, in front of Langosteira beach.
It claims to be the only one in the town that values products such as horse mackerel, melgacho (dogfish), stingray and algae.
Its sea urchin scramble with prawns and seaweed stands out.
16.30.
To the auction!
A long glass building with huge cantilevers, which in Galicia are always appreciated, houses the
fish market of the port (8)
of Fisterra, the work of the
Creus & Carrasco studio
and the first tourist market in Spain.
Here the public can attend the auction (4:45 pm; admission, 1 euro) by moving through catwalks so as not to interfere with commercial operations.
enlarge photo Kilometer 0 of the Camino de Santiago, in Fisterra.
GETTY IMAGES
18.30.
A date with the Sun
Time to go up to the
lighthouse (9)
to see how the Sun goes down in the ocean.
It is advisable to go early because it is 2.5 kilometers from Fisterra and halfway through it is advisable to stop at the modern and ghostly
cemetery (10)
that César Portela designed in 1998 and no one has wanted to occupy it yet.
At the foot of the lighthouse (from 1853), a landmark marks kilometer 0 of the Camino de Santiago, the bronze boot next to which the pilgrims get rid of their clothes and the horns of the Vaca de Fisterra, which since 1888 has
bellowed
the days of fog.
It is also a good place to watch the sunset on the
Fisterra Cruise
ship
, which leaves every day at this time (from Easter to October 15).
And another place to experience the sunset: Punta da Barca, in
Muxía
(30 kilometers north of Fisterra)
(11)
, with its sanctuary, its
magic
stones
, its small white lighthouse and its huge waves.
21.00.
Dinner between locals and pilgrims
Whoever wants the best for dinner will go to
O 'Fragón
(ofragon.es) or
Tira do Cordel
(tiradocordel.com), famous for its grilled wild fish.
Those
looking for something more popular,
A Cantina
(981 74 03 22) is an inn frequented by locals, pilgrims and travelers that is in front of the port.
Everything is good: mussels, scallops, grilled octopus, raxo ... And it's not expensive at all.
23.00.
The
non plus ultra
hotelier
If we liked the modern building of the fish market, we will like the
Bela Fisterra
hotel
(belafisterra.com), by the same architects.
It is a thematic accommodation, dedicated to the world of marine literature.
It is on Langosteira beach, just like
Alén do Mar
(hotelalendomar.com), a small and well-kept hotel in a pine forest on the edge of the Atlantic.
Mar da Ardora
(hotelmardaardora.com) overlooks the wild and lonely beach of Mar de Fóra.
It has a
spa
, garden and a firm commitment to sustainability, starting with its bioclimatic architecture.
At Cape Finisterre itself, behind the lighthouse and a little higher, is
O Semaforo
, an old maritime surveillance post rehabilitated by César Portela.
It is the
non plus ultra
hotelier.
Unless you convince the skipper of one of the fishing boats that set sail from Fisterra to spend the night on board, you will not find a bed further west.
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