Galicia’s Camellia Route 1207

We depart on a flight from London to La Coruña. On arrival we will be met by our local coach and transferred to our hotel.  Evening is at leisure.

This morning following breakfast we shall have a tour of the city to see its modern parks and the historic city centre. We shall also visit the little park around the tomb of Sir John Moore on the city ramparts.
Following lunch (not included) we will visit the garden of Pazo de Mariñan overlooking the quiet waters of a river estuary. At the entrance to the Pazo we are welcomed by banana trees, walnut trees from India and huge eucalyptus trees, while the drive is bordered by two rows of trees, with spruce planted on one side and camellias on the other. The garden was first completed in the eighteenth century, and was designed by the artistic gardener Martin Thiebe, who was well known for completing many gardens for others "Pazos" in the region during this time. Amongst the botanical varieties to be found here are many old camellia plants with multiple trunks, along with others which have been planted over the years to add fragrance and colour to the garden in the winter and spring.

After breakfast we check out of the hotel. We leave La Coruña and head for Santiago de Compostela where we will visit the Monasterio de San Lorenzo de Trasouto. Although there are other gardens within this property the pazo owes its horticultural renown to the cloister garden. The upper part of the two-storey cloister is glazed but the lower part is open with single columns, up which grape vines have been trained. Its garden is occupied by an extraordinary masterpiece of box topiary; a wriggling rounded hedge with only the smallest of spaces separating its parts. a sculpture of the Virgin clothed in ivy.
We then visit the great Romanesque Cathedral with its Baroque facade and its Cloisters, which is reputed to hold the remains of St James. This has made Santiago a centre for pilgrimage and thousands walk the pilgrim’s way of El Camino de Santiago each year. Following our visit here depart for our hotel in Santiago de Compostela, where the evening is at leisure.

After breakfast this morning we depart for Pazo de Oca at La Estrada, where the practical and the beautiful are united in a network of canals and two ponds in a mainly 18th century garden. The basic layout of the garden has remained unchanged since 1743 despite the introduction of new species at a later date. In the first half of the 18th century it changed from being a collection of small productive spaces with fruit trees and vines to a Baroque garden ornamented with ponds, fountains and statues.
Our next visit is to the Pazo de Santa Cruz de Rivadulla at Vedra-Ortigueira. Once the home of the canon of Santiago Cathedral, this charming manor house now boasts one of the region’s best plant collections. In the 19th century, the owner Ivan Armada added many new species to the already established garden, including hundreds of varieties of Camellia, which still bloom today. Unique in the north of Spain, and a truly amazing sight, are the avenues of ancient gnarled olive trees that criss-cross the garden.

Following breakfast we visit the Pazo de Rubianes at Arousa, where the garden was started in the mid 18th century and developed in both the 19th and 20th centuries with recent expansion onto the hill behind. The well-proportioned garden features fountains, pools and camellia walks, which complement perfectly the handsome villa.
We then visit the impressive hill top Castillo de Soutomaior. This garden, which has an important and historic camellia collection, is situated on a steep bluff surrounding a small crenellated castle and commands views over the attractive wild, hilly countryside of this part of Galicia. The origin of the park goes back to 1870 when the Marqués de la Vega de Armijo y de Mos decided to make the castle his summer residence. He set about restoring the castle itself and laying out a pleasure garden on what were previously fields of maize. Following our visit here we continue to our hotel in Vigo.

Following breakfast we check out of the hotel and visit the Pazo de Quiñones de León, 2km south west of Vigo. A Baroque mansion, which became a city museum in 1937, it is situated at the top of Castrelos Park, formerly part of the property of the Tavarés family, through which the River Lagares flows, which is dammed to form a lake adjacent to an open air theatre.
We later continue back to La Coruña in time for our flight back to London.