LAND, SEA AND AIR
Small territories surrounded by water full of life
A unique space
In these islands, refuges of marine life, everything is related to the sea.
It is necessary to access by boat so the experience begins before reaching the islands. Cíes, Ons, Sálvora and Cortegada: 4 islands, each accessible from different points of the coast. Their essence is also different: Cíes is the highest, from its beaches to the lighthouse at 190 m; Ons presents a unique and singular ethnography when walking along its paths; Sálvora is a sample of natural art on stone where some of them hide a tragic past; and Cortegada, the flattest, welcomes the visitor in the middle of a magnificent forest for which the local community always fought for.
These islands were once small mountains connected by land to the mainland until the sea flooded everything and isolated them. And this origin marked everything:
White beaches where birds feed on what the sand hides. Next to them, the dunes, essential for the survival of the beaches, are occupied by a special vegetation that allows the breeding of these birds. A complete ecosystem, full of life, not always easy to observe.
In the small groves and thickets, a great diversity of species take refuge hidden among the branches, in small holes or mimicking among the plants.
And, at the top, when one reaches the cliff and is not able to reach that immense ocean with the view, we will see the seabirds flying dexterous, and we will hear the impact of the waves against the rocks. The sea, present everywhere, also offers different landscapes due to the diversity of its bottoms: sand, rock, gravel, marine forests, coraligenous; and the enormous diversity of its species. Observing them is easy and exciting.