James Jeffrey

The secret holiday spots beloved by the Spanish

  • From Spectator Life
Barra beach, Galicia

Ask a Spaniard where they vacation, and you may get a touch of the Matador effect in response. The chest lifts, the head is tilted up with the bottom lip pushed out accompanied by the reply: ‘España! My country.’ For like the Greeks, when you have so many domestic splendours to choose from, why would you go anywhere else?

It’s estimated that about two out of three vacationing Spaniards remain in country for the holidays. But where do the Spanish go? It’s a bit of a mystery—perhaps intentionally so. With swarms of Brits inundating their land, you can’t blame the Spanish for wanting to safeguard a few vacation refuges.

Recently I’ve been encountering Spaniards on the move for their holidays. In the picturesque village of Requejo toward the north of Spain, I passed a car parked with its bonnet popped open, all doors ajar and its three passengers sitting on the pavement sipping drinks to cool down. Mid-afternoon, the temperature was peaking at around 35 degrees. They told me there were heading to the city of Pontevedra amid the cooler climes of Galicia, Spain’s most north-western region. Located on the edge of an estuary at the mouth of the Lérez river by the sea, Pontevedra contains a charming old town full of exquisite architecture (though arguably that isn’t much of a boast in Spain: most cities match that).

Galicia remains a Spanish secret, unless you have done the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage that ends in its regional capital, Santiago de Compostela. But the region is an enigmatic treat, with a starkly unique and independent character from the rest of Spain. Its lush verdant landscape is often compared to Ireland’s. You often encounter Celtic crosses at the intersections of rural tracks. You might even hear the bagpipes being played.

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