Galician travel

[Dr vonPuffenberg]

Greetings all,

It seems like there are a lot of experienced Spanish travelers here so I was hoping for some advice.

I'm taking my wife to Spain for her 40th birthday and we've decided on visiting Galicia.  I/we've been to a few of the more popular areas (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, etc) and want to try something off the beaten path this time.  I've convinced her that we'll be spending a week eating seafood by the water and sipping Albariño.  The problem that I've run into is I don't know what town/city we should stay in.  What I usually enjoy is finding a nice hotel or BnB to stay in and be able to walk to good restaurants, parks, etc and just let life slow down a bit.  I've been doing some research and I can't really find the right town for us.  Santiago de Compostela seems to be the most vibrant city in the area, but it's not on the water so it's not an option for us.  Are there any of you guys that have experience in the area and can recommend a place for us?

I'll gladly report back if I find any RE's while I'm there.

Thanks!

[La_Tigre]

33 minutes ago, Dr vonPuffenberg said:

Greetings all,

It seems like there are a lot of experienced Spanish travelers here so I was hoping for some advise.

I'm taking my wife to Spain for her 40th birthday and we've decided on visiting Galicia.  I/we've been to a few of the more popular areas (Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, etc) and want to try something off the beaten path this time.  I've convinced her that we'll be spending a week eating seafood by the water and sipping Albariño.  The problem that I've run into is I don't know what town/city we should stay in.  What I usually enjoy is finding a nice hotel or BnB to stay in and be able to walk to good restaurants, parks, etc and just let life slow down a bit.  I've been doing some research and I can't really find the right town for us.  Santiago de Compostela seems to be the most vibrant city in the area, but it's not on the water so it's not an option for us.  Are there any of you guys that have experience in the area and can recommend a place for us?

I'll gladly report back if I find any RE's while I'm there.

Thanks!

We enjoyed A Coruña quite a bit. Cava Viñales was very nicely appointed and maintained this Summer. Cannot speak to what stock you’ll find now but we did purchase some aged Montecristo and such. Nothing for Cohiba as expected. Also found a shop closer to the beach that had some inexpensive brands as well as RE Magicos

We’ve heard Vigo is a nice town but cannot speak to it. 

[Ken Gargett]

certainly an area i would love to spend more time in.

have spent time in bilboa which is not too far away. love the seafood with one exception. i find cod boring as hell. i went to a heap of restaurants there to search for a great cod dish. not one. the famous museum is worth a visit though to be honest, when i was there, i thought that the outside way more impressive than the contents. 2/10 compared to what you find in madrid and also barcelona. 

my one visit to galicia was because a flight to oporto was diverted. what a nightmare. biggest bunch of gibbering idiots i have ever travelled with. we arrive at the vigo airport and there is a bus waiting. most of the crowd went straight onto the bus and it never occurred to them to collect their luggage to put on the bus. imagine the chaos that caused when it dawned on these idiots what was happened as the bus was about to leave. eventually we set off and i am not making this up, we went four yards before the bus had a traffic accident. that is fun in spain. every man and his dog has an opinion whether they saw it or not. and advice. eventually we set off and the bus sort of breaks down. just not enough to stop. so we crawl along the road at snail's pace for ages. and what a bunch of whingers. i don't feel well. i need to take a leak. i am too important for this. there was a two month old baby on board and it made less noise and behaved way better than most of this crowd. 

i hope you have better luck. 

[Dr vonPuffenberg]

Thanks for the input so far.  It's funny, my wife and I just watched a show about black market fishing and they made it seem like Vigo was the world center of ocean raping and all the shadiest fishing vessels in all the world end up there.  That made us think that Vigo wasn't a particularly nice place, or that we may be eating some illegal African sea bass instead of locally caught fresh fare.  Maybe it's worth a second look.

I also don't see the appeal of Cod.  I assume it just a plentiful fish and that's why its so popular.

Regarding smoking, what's the general etiquette at a cafe/bar?  Last time I was there, I saw a lot of people smoking cigarettes (and weed), but not cigars.  If we're having an afternoon beverage and tapa at a sidewalk cafe, will the locals be bothered if I light up?