Beaches – temples of sand, history and tradition

The Rodas beach (Playa de Rodas), Islas Cíes

At the westernmost tip of Europe lies Galicia – its grassy and rocky landscape opening like a hand to the Atlantic Ocean and the Cantabric sea to the north. Here in this venerable landscape prominent cliffs alternate with clean, fine- sanded beaches. Beaches whose names allude to their topographic characteristics, to stories of sunken galleons, to navigators’ odysseys from Breogán to San Telmo, to globetrotter adventurers or explorers, to legends of fertility-inducing waves and Venus, to fables and stories of stone ships and treasures. Here waves carry Nature in the form of shells and algae. Indeed, many of these places were known throughout history as sacred or profane sites to the traditions of witchcraft. Temples of the landscape, contemplated by old chapels dedicated to the Virgin, “Estrela da Mañán” (Morning Star), and to evening, as well as “Stella Maris”, or to saints like San Adrián, an object of devotion for the sea people, springing from ancestral animistic cults. Continue reading »