Ethnoludic Museum of Galicia (Melga)

Ponteceso

In the town of Ponteceso, in the Bergantiños region, you will find this authentic paradise for lovers of games and toys. More than 4,000 pieces from all over the world make up the collection of this center in which millenary cultures, traditional Galician games and examples of how sports have evolved coexist. Visitors will also have the opportunity to participate in some of the activities organised there, such as plasticine workshops, origami or toy construction. More information here.

Grobit Village

O Grove

The Hobbits, characters created by the writer J.R.R. Tolkien, have distant relatives on A Toxa, the small and famous island located in the Pontevedra municipality of O Grove. Their place of residence, the Grobit Village is a children’s park formed by small houses that seem to sprout from the ground (one of them can be visited), play areas and multicoloured logs. The space is located in a forest park of great natural value inhabited also by a couple of gentle donkeys, always ready to interact with visitors. More information here.

Illa do Covo

Pontevedra

This small river island located in the waters of the Lérez River combines culture, leisure and fun to become another ideal destination for families. There you can find the pieces of the artistic project called Illa das Esculturas, areas for walking and a space for family leisure. It is also the setting for an original proposal called Discovering the Illa do Covo, which encourages participants to discover the artistic and natural heritage of the place through a route guided by eight videos. More information here.

City of Culture

Santiago de Compostela

The complex built on Mount Gaiás offers numerous proposals to enjoy a day of games and fun with the family. The climbing wall and the skate track in the Theatre Garden and the play area in the Parque da Balea will delight children and young people, while those who prefer to walk or relax in green surroundings can do so in the Parque del Lago, the Literary Garden or the Galician Forest. More information here.

Domus

A Coruña

Its more than 150 interactive modules make this museum in A Coruña an ideal place to learn and reflect on human beings in a fun and playful way. At present, because of the covid, it offers three activities (maker@domus, atapuerca@domus and mission@domus) with prior reservation of places for groups of people living together. More information here.

Galician Museum of Toy

Allariz

Among the wide range of museums in the town of Allariz, there is also a place for the world of toys. The Galician Museum of Toy, located in the pazo of the old courthouse, houses a collection of games and toys from very different periods. More information here.

Fernández Pacheco Train Collection

Ourense

The history and evolution of the world of railways is condensed in the more than 4,000 pieces of this collection, which ranges from the first steam engines to high speed. Among its scale replicas there is no lack of mythical trains such as the Orient Express or the machine used by Buster Keaton in the film “The General”. The collection can be visited at the Marcos Valcárcel Cultural Centre. More information here.

Briz Farm

Marín

Lakes, slides, games integrated into nature and spaces for walking come together in an enclosure that until the beginning of the 19th century was part of the possessions of the monastery of Oseira. The place also includes a space called Park of the Senses with five different areas to stimulate the touch (with different textures), the ear (with large musical instruments), the eyesight (with the panoramic views offered by the place), the smell (with aromatic plants) and the taste (with fruit trees). More information here.

Kiko Pastur Magic Museum

Santiago de Compostela

Since November 2020, the world of illusionism has its own monographic space in the old town of Compostela. The magician Kiko Pastur is the driving force and director of this museum where it is possible to observe historical articles and pieces, see reproductions of some of the numbers of the great magicians of history and be surprised by optical illusions that will challenge our minds. More information here.

Corpus Christi

Ponteareas

Declared a international festival of tourist interest, the Corpus Christi of Ponteareas is famous for the spectacular images of floral carpets covering the streets of that town in Pontevedra. On this occasion, the tradition that dates back to at least the mid-19th century will have to be postponed until 2021, but the municipal officials and the representatives of the volunteers groups have agreed to carry out a campaign to disseminate this ethnographic heritage through the social networks that will serve to start promoting the Corpus of next year.

https://www.facebook.com/concelloponteareas/

Flowers Carpets Festival

Bueu

The Corpus Christi celebration in Bueu is also linked to the image of the beautiful carpets made with flowers by groups of neighbors and entire families. Three years after its declaration as a Festival of Cultural Interest, the pandemic has also forced all parties involved to find ways to reinvent themselves and keep the celebration alive. The main option that has been raised is the creation of a single carpet on the outside of the parish church.

https://www.facebook.com/Asociación-Cultural-Alfombras-de-Bueu-659429704166632/

Corpus Christi Flower Carpets

Ares

A little over a month ago, the Carpet Association of Ares and the City Council of Ares reported with “great regret” the suppression this year of the activities planned for the weekend of June 13th and 14th because of the covid. They recalled that some of the main aspects of this celebration (of tourist interest since 2011) was the joint work, hand in hand, and for several weeks of the most veteran neighbors, and during the previous night of the smallest. This in current circumstances are impossible to carry out. Neighbors have quickly appealed to keep this traditional colorful by adorning the balconies of their homes with flowers this weekend.

https://www.facebook.com/alfombrasfloralesdeares/

Corpus Christi Festival

Redondela

The Festa da Coca in Redondela is another of the celebrations that have been postponed this year, and with it the traditional Corpus Christi rugs and the rest of the elements that made the celebration declared of tourist interest two decades ago. But the floral tapestries will be present again through the virtual contest promoted by the City Council. The intention is that the neighbors make rugs or miniature models from their homes, which will then be evaluated by a jury and exposed through the municipal social networks.

https://www.facebook.com/redondelaconcello/

Festa da Rosa

Mos

Also in Mos they have chosen to make the leap to the virtual world to not stop enjoying their Festa da Rosa (of tourist interest since 2014). This year the celebration will be transferred entirely to the Web and will include activities as diverse as workshops, musical performances, children’s shows and videos. There will also be the opening speech, which this year will be given by Ángel Pichel, Head of Emergencies at the Álvaro Cunqueiro Hospital, and a children’s video contest in which children will be able to present theirs rose bushes. More than half a thousand people will take an active part in the programmed activities.

https://www.facebook.com/concellodemos

Festa do Boi

Allariz

Neighbors participation is one of the most important elements of the Festa do Boi (medieval celebration that in 2006 was declared of tourist interest) and its organizers want this spirit to continue this year, despite the suspension of the celebration. That is why the Xan de Arzúa Association has called a façade decoration contest to encourage residents to decorate the streets of the town with medieval and artistic motifs and a troubadour contest in video format that will be broadcast through Internet.

http://www.festadoboi.gal/

Tradition says that in this place lived, in the second century, the beautiful Mariña, daughter of a Roman governor of Gallaecia who, as such, believed in the gods of the imperial pagan pantheon. But Mariña, influenced by the slave who had raised her, converted to Christianity. Her father, outraged, disowned her. While living far from home, another senior Roman official named Olibrio became infatuated with her. After Mariña’s refusal to give in to his advances, Olibrio tormented and even burned her in an underground oven at the foot of the Armeá fort. Mariña was saved by divine intervention: at the very last moment, Saint Peter used his cane to crack a hole in the roof of the oven for the girl to escape through, only for the Romans to cut off the girls’ head. The head bounced three times on the floor, repeating the word “I believe” and each time causing a spring to sprout.

The story is somewhat gruesome, but the good thing for the traveller is that the places of the mythical martyrdom can be visited today just by taking a short stroll from the beautiful church of Santa Mariña de Augas Santas. In the temple, which has a beautiful Romanesque rose window, the relics of the young woman are preserved. Nearby there are several very old and interesting buildings. One of them is the Ourense Bishop’s old summer house of the, which holds the first of the springs attributed to Mariña’s beheading. A second one sprouts behind the church’s chancel.

Further down the village is the way to Armeá, a path made with large slabs of stone and surrounded by oaks. Halfway down the path, you will find the most mysterious of these places: the unfinished basilica of Asunción. In the fourteenth century the works on this building stopped and remained incomplete for reasons unknown, although it is attributed to the decline of the order of the Templars, the construction’s developers. Underneath the bare walls hides another secret, not suitable for sensitive hearts: you can access the ‘forno da Santa’, the saint’s oven, a moist and dark crypt in which, according to tradition, Santa Mariña was burned. It is actually a pre-Roman construction, probably a temple or a bath.

The path continues through the mountain and passes through the “pioucas da Santa”, the “saint’s puddles”, two rectangular excavations where Mariña freshened up after the torment that were probably old presses to make olive oil. At the end of the route are the Armeá excavations, a fort that must have once been very large.