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Ribeira
«Ribeira alberga uno de los puertos de bajura más importantes.»Ribeira houses one of the most important inshore fishing ports.
Ribeira is located at the mouth of the Arousa estuary, on the west coast of Galicia, and is one of the most important fishing ports in all of Spain. In its territory, you can find the Corrubedo mobile dune, one kilometre long, and a dolmen that has remained standing for five thousand years.
Did you know
A dune that walks.
In the Corrubedo Natural Park, there is a fifteen-metre-high mobile dune that moves slowly, pushed by oceanic winds.
How they talk in Ribeira
«Lonxa» is the Galician term for the fish market and recurs continuously in a port city. «Ría» and «bateas» are other fundamental words of the Arousa landscape.
morriña
Melancholic nostalgia, particularly for one's own land. Used to describe the feeling of distance and melancholy towards the land of origin or, more generally, a nostalgic state.
Everyday life in Ribeira
The «lonja» in the afternoon
The port of Ribeira is one of the most important in Spain for fresh fish, and the auction takes place in the afternoon: it is sold in a loud voice and the fish leaves for Madrid the same day.
The «percebes» on the rocks
The percebeiros go down with a rope onto the rocks battered by the waves to detach the barnacles, one at a time, between one wave and the next. It is the most dangerous job on the coast.
«Los percebes se cogen entre ola y ola.» — Percebes are caught between one wave and the next.
The «Corrubedo» with the mobile dune
The large dune of the natural park moves every year and has no vegetation: you walk on it on wooden walkways, and it is the trip you take on Sunday.
What to eat in Ribeira
Mariscada
A platter of seafood from the estuary, boiled and served together.
Percebes
Goose barnacles that are detached from the rock battered by the waves, boiled for a minute and eaten with the hands.
Tarta de Santiago
Almond cake without flour, with the cross drawn on top with icing sugar.
Festivals in Ribeira
Festa da Dorna
around 24 July
Absurd boats are built with whatever is available and raced in the port: whoever arrives wins, if they arrive.
What to see in Ribeira
Duna de Corrubedo
A mobile dune a kilometre long and twenty metres high, which moves with the wind.
Dolmen de Axeitos
A five-thousand-year-old dolmen in the middle of a forest, with the slabs still all standing.
Porto de Ribeira
One of the most important fishing ports in Spain, with the fish market and deep-sea boats.
Faro de Corrubedo
The lighthouse on the cape, with the cliff and the view over the islands of the estuary.
Where Ribeira comes from
A dune that walks
Prehistory
The dolmen
The dolmen of Axeitos, five thousand years old, stands in the middle of a forest in the municipality.
16th century
The village
The fishing port is born at the mouth of the Arousa estuary.
19th–20th century
Fishing
The fleet grows until it makes Ribeira one of the most important fishing ports in Spain.
1992
The park
The dune and the lagoons of Corrubedo become a natural park.
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