mare TV Galicia's Coast - Spain's Rough Northwest
Green hills sloping steeply into the sea, lonely sandy beaches + a cool climate with around 150 rainy days a year: Galicia, Spain's most north-westerly region, is not only scenically reminiscent of Scotland. Like the Scots, the Gallegos are proud of their Celtic traditions. More than 2000 years ago, the Celtic tribe of the Gallaekers, who gave Galicia its name, settled here on the rough Atlantic coast. Susana Seivane comes from a family that has made it to rank + name with the Gaita, the Galician variant of the bagpipe. Her father Alvaro, her sister and an uncle build the precious instruments. The pipes are turned from boxwood. Meanwhile, Susana travels half the world as the front woman of a folk rock band. At the moment, the bagpiper has a special musical challenge: she wants to get her two children Fiz (8) + Antón (5) in the right mood for a celebration of the 100th birthday of the company's founder. The two are to set the beat with drums at the joint performance. Galicia is famous for its seafood, the most precious being barnacles. They only grow on the wave-swept cliffs off the coast. That's what makes the harvest so dangerous. Rosa Bermúdez has made her way in the tough world of fishermen as captain of her own boat. To get to the harvesting sites, she has to navigate her crew of women through the surf with an 80-horsepower outboard + a lot of flair. The reward for the extreme risk: at the fish market in A Coruña, barnacles fetch up to 200 euros per kilo. Herds of wild horses have grazed in the mountains on Galicia's west coast for hundreds of years. Once a year they are driven to the "barber". Their manes have to be thinned out to prevent parasites from settling in them. Modesto Dominguez Roba is actually a construction worker and one of the biggest horse owners in the village of Torroña. On Curro, the day of collective shearing, he and his helpers have to drive more than 800 horses into the valley. Then comes the most difficult task: taking his own animals out of the huge herd in the pen with a combination of lasso + stick. It's not easy to keep track of everything. But Modesto has memorised every characteristic detail of his 86 wild horses. The landmark of Galicia and the end point of the Way of St. James is the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. The foundation stone for the most important pilgrimage route of the Middle Ages was laid in 1075. Millions of pilgrims and the ravages of time have left their mark, the masonry is crumbling. High above the roofs of the city, cathedral builder Paulino Sánchez and his team are currently restoring the north façade. With tweezers and miniature spatulas, they are repairing tiny cracks in the granite. A Sisyphean task. But Paulino is convinced that the drudgery is worth it. Galicia's landmark is to be preserved for another 1000 years, at least.
Broadcasting on 05th of August 2021 at 08.15pm on NDR/ARD
Music: POPVIRUS Library