Noia

On 23 May we cycled up to the head of the Ría de Muros to visit the old town of Noia. The old part of the town has some lovely streets and the Rua de Rosalía Alamanda plaza/walkway is very picturesque.

We relaxed in the sunshine in a café enjoying the view of the Alamanda (above) and smiling because we had just been told in phone call from our home town that there it was 7 degrees Celcius and sleeting.

The Inglesia de san Martiño was worth a visit. No longer a functional church, it now houses  a collection of tombstones, some of which are from as early as the 10^th century.

As we wandered around we notice that here too the streets were lined with orange trees. So different from home and very nice. Another common feature in Galicia are the hórreros. We have seen a lot of these as we have cycled around. Initially we thought hey might be a religious structure because they are mostly adorned with crosses. They are however, grain stores, the design of which dates back to Roman times. The store sits on pillars with a mushroom shaped tops designed to make it difficult for rodents to get above it to eat the grain. The sides of the store are ventilated to keep the precious grain dry, despite the rainy weather in Galicia.

 A typical hórrero (grain store)