A New Beach
It's always a win when you find a new place to beach. This past month I traveled to the NorthWestern border of Spain. I enjoyed a beautiful beach town there called Nigran. It is 30 minutes from the Vigo airport and it feels particularly peaceful.
The chance to swim in the ocean is the obvious draw for this town of 18,000 people. I visited in the final days of April. My Pennsylvania mindset told me that April is way too early to be in the ocean but I found the water to be just warm enough to swim in. I enjoyed the water immensely as I jumped through small waves near a beautiful natural rock bridge.
There are various places to snack near the ocean. I visited the local crepary called Creperie Bretonne Annaick. I chose a lemon sorbet from the ice cream menu, and it was delicious. This coffee and crepe stop has a unique feel with a brightly painted hippy bus parked inside. The biggest surprise of my trip was encountering el Mono Patin Skate Cafe. It is in Nigran, right next the hotel where we stayed. I went in with my fiance to have a coffee and I saw a a reduced sized skateboard halfpipe in the shop! Sure that it was too whimsical to be true, I asked the shop owner if customers can skate on the half-pipe.
“Yeah, they can.”
“But they have to bring their own board, right?”
“No, I’ll show you the ones you can borrow.”
And so, between bites of my pastry, I tried my hand at the skateboarding I had left behind 15 years ago. According to my fiance, I did zero impressive things on that ramp. But my heart smiled with the energy of skater vibes and unusual surprises.
During one of our afternoons I decided to join the bus trip that crossed the border to Portugal. We entered a beautiful town called Valenca, one hour from our beach town: Nigran. Valenca is most notable for its wall defense system, reconstructed in 1643. The sharp angles and changes in elevation in the defense system now serve to give the town a stunning air of beauty. I had the distinct sense that this town is now very much a tourist stop, but tourism has not erased the beauty of its construction and vistas.
In Nigran there are multiple hotels available. I stayed in the Residencia de Tempo Libre de Panxon, which is a government boosted hotel business. It was simple but comfortable, with a sense of tranquility. Some of the rooms look out onto the ocean and others have a small terrace with a view of the town. There are large rooms available for meetings and gatherngs downstairs and I found those rooms to be particularly beautiful. There is also a cafeteria that served our group of 200 daily meals.
Nigran is a peaceful and pleasant beach town, that has a sense of being undiscovered. The ocean rolls onto the sand near beautiful rock outcroppings and small cafes. It has a whimsical variety of snacking experiences and is close enough to Portugal for an afternoon adventure. I am excited to return to this unique town.
