034 - Nigran - Galicia/Spain

Long, very long golden beaches, hundreds if not thousands of caravans, hot air balloons, beautiful mountains, a romantic peninsula, great water, great food and close to many other places. Let’s discover!

 

To see the map, click here!

034.1 Reaching Nigran is very similar to reaching Baiona -> car or bus from Vigo (036) and to get to Vigo… well -> walking, car, bus, train, airplane and even cruise ship. From Vigo to Baiona/Nigran there are dozens of buses per day with rush hour, one in every 15 minutes and they slow down to every 30 minutes and then every hour. Ticket can be bought on board (I used to do that) so have some change on yourself. I used to walk and wait in Vigo, next to Mc Donalds on Gran Via Blvd. There is a great view over the rocky mountains, so drinking the coffee like that is even better. More on this, when we get to that article.

034.2 Part of Nigran is facing Baiona (this photo was made from where I used to live in Baiona) and it is inside a golf area, surrounded by 350 to 450 meter high mountains. This means, there are frequent foggy mornings, but as it gets warmer, the sun will shine bright so do wear sun cream and enjoy the time on the beach.

034.3 This is Praia Patos, the closest beach to Vigo. If you come by bus you will see it as it stops pretty close. This is the beach that is facing the Cies Islands, but to get the boat to reach them, you should start from Baiona (see next article).

034.4 We did not visit much of Nigran but we do recommend visiting the Ramallosa bridge (this is the church Santa Cristina de Ramallosa).

 034.5 Low tide on the Praia da Ladeira - which is closest to Baiona (there are a total of 4 huge beaches (that believe it or not, can get pretty crowded). This is not really a beach for staying in. Hundreds of people will camp here with theirs RV cars and tents.

034.6 Hot air balloon festival in Nigran.

034.7 When we were not wondering on the beach, we went to visit Monteferro peninsula, in search for a closer to home place where there is less light pollution so we can observe the Milky Way.

034.8 After spending a few hours here at night I can say that this is not the best spot for Milky Way photography, as there quite a lot of light pollution from Nigran and Baiona. This is the reason why in article 031 - the lighthouse - we show another place that is easier to get to (actually) and it has just one light pollution source, and it looks awesome with it in the picture. I think the only one that can be reached on foot is the Baiona Lighthouse, as you don’t go through forest. After visiting a telescope in Pontevedra, my friends gave me this website for future reference: https://www.lightpollutionmap.info/#zoom=6.47&lat=41.8023&lon=-8.0521&state=eyJiYXNlbWFwIjoiTGF5ZXJCaW5nUm9hZCIsIm92ZXJsYXkiOiJ3YV8yMDE1Iiwib3ZlcmxheWNvbG9yIjpmYWxzZSwib3ZlcmxheW9wYWNpdHkiOjYwLCJmZWF0dXJlc29wYWNpdHkiOjg1fQ==

034.9 Quite centrally positioned on Monteferro peninsula, there is this monument Salve Regina Marium, dedicated to the marines -> quite big and impressive - also solitary. There is nothing else around it, except Mother Nature. Since it is a symbol to Nigran, I made a version of it in 3D for this article. Now you might be quick to judge that the proportions are not right, but this is art :D

034.10 Once inside the monument, you can look up and … well we used the flash from the camera to see something. It does look like a furnice. Hm monument to those who serve… is like a ritual? And the smoke should rise high into the Heavens… I am just making stuff up. 

034.11 Nature seal -> it does look like a seal on a letter no?

034.12 Moonrise over the mountains that separate Nigran from Vigo (036). These mountains rise over 450m above sea level and we will see some closer, once we arrive to the articles of Vigo.

While we did not cover fully Nigran, there are a few things that are memorable to me:

A great place to walk on long beaches and take an awesome sun tan during summer;

A great place to admire the Milky Way, or just a great place to take photos of dragonflies (when we got here, we were new with the telephoto lens, so all photos are slightly out of focus… yup it takes time to learn something new)

A great place for those who love to hike and swim (triathlon trainning?)

I hope you found this article somewhat useful and make sure to see also Baiona (032 and 033) since both towns are literally glued together.

Source: https://descubrirgalicia.wordpress.com/2019/01/14/puente-de-a-ramallosa-leyenda/