Noia Galicia - some bad points

Its very easy to extol the virtues of anything you like, but it is also important to acknowledge faults as well and Noia has some features which could be remedied, replaced or better still removed altogether. The biggest single drawback to Noia is in fact the feature that should be its strongest visual selling point, its "ria" or bay.

Noia's bay

Noia has the perennial problem of being situated at the point where two estuarial rivers meet the sea. Whilst this location places Noia in a coastal bay, it also places Noia at the very spot where silt traveling down river hits the incoming current of the ocean and comes to a dead halt. The result is that whilst Noia's bay superficially appears attractive when the tide is in, on closer inspection (when the tide is out) you realize the bay is not full of clean clear water, but silt washed down from the mountains.

Below left, a post card view of Noia and the bay when the tide is in. One of the rivers is clearly visible in the lower third of the photo (postcard).

A few years ago the bay was cleared out, a massive job, but although the residents are constantly being told that the dredging work is due to commence again, as of August 2005, this work had not taken place. We were told last year that the actual depth of the silt had now reached almost 3 metres. On a positive note, the Noia's center sits a hundred yards or so from the constructed sea front, so you are not generally aware of this problem.

Building maintenance

Galicia as a whole suffers from the problem of having many poorly maintained buildings often next to, or even connected to, some highly appealing ones. Whilst Noia is certainly no worse than anywhere else in Galicia, it does have its fair share of "falling down" old ruins in prominent positions. I should perhaps temper this observation by pointing out that Noia's council are making a significant effort to contact owners, offer grants and generally try to "put right" any buildings in a poor condition and prominent postion. They have none-the-less still got quite some way to go. Amazingly, the building in the photo above is in the same square as San Martino church and will originally have been the house of one of Noia's more prosperous citizens!

Restaurants

Whilst Noia (Galicia) has plenty of tapas bars and informal style eateries, it does lack a good quality restaurant for that special night out. Its not that there aren't any, there may even be a good one hiding somewhere, but if there is we haven't found it yet.

As an amendment to the comment above, I have had an e-mail about a restaurant in the medieval district which is apparently very good. It is located under the arches on the left as you head for "San Martino" church and is just before, and on the opposite side of the street to the "la Parra" tapas bar mentioned else where. I believe the street is called "Canton" and the building holding the restaurant is the "Pazo Dacosta". We have had tapas there many times, but did not realise that there was a formal eatery there as well. Many thanks to Andrew Hilton.

The newer parts of Noia, Galicia

The original village of Noia has been expanded upon over the years and many of the newer additions that surround the old district are not so appealing, especially those adjacent to the river that feeds the bay.

In particular, if you approach Noia from the southern coastal road (which is very scenic) you enter it by traversing a river and crossing a bridge. At this point you will be faced with some shabby and genuinely ugly buildings. It is at this moment that you might think that you have made a big mistake and that Noia is a destination to knock off the list. Rest assured, the interesting parts of Noia are behind this ugly facade and are not visible once you are in Noia itself. Alternatively, if you approach Noia from the Muros side of the bay, your first view of the town will be its large open square and you will be suitably impressed.

Noia In perspective

If you want to visit Noia, remember it is still a living working Galician coastal port with many assets countered by a few forgivable faults. Noia does not pretend to be something it is not, nor does it make any attempt to hide or disguise its distant or recent history. If you visit Noia you will see a town living in the present, but strongly connected to the past and trying, like all historic places, to balance the two.

The intention of this section is to showcase Noia, but not to the exclusion of objectivity. I believe that anyone who has had a sufficient level of interest in Noia to read this far would not regret a visit, be it a day trip from Santiago, or a holiday using Noia as its base.