Come to Galifornia, Galician California

9 August 2013
Certainly, if you are person who work in IT industry you think that working in Silicon Valley could be sexy, amazing or just the best option. If you think so, you don’t know the region where Quobis is based. Southern Galicia (northwest of Spain) resembles California. This is not a personal opinion, as lots of people share our views. This is GALIFORNIA (Galician California). Most of the highlights of San Francisco and the rest of California have their improved replica in Galifornia. Weather can be different but the friendship of the galicians and the quality of the food has no point of comparison with the american ones. Based on this article of the Traveler magazine, these are some the key points of the american California that have a galician version:

Faro de Budiño (an improved replica of Yosemite park)

Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs and biological diversity in the center of California. Similar views and ecosystem to Faro de Budiño, an old granite monolith, near to Val de Louro, the valley of Quobis. Budiño is surrounded by Aloia’s natural park and Serra do Galiñeiro, a unique landscape result of an exotic afforestation done 100 years ago with cypresses and cedars. This area is thought to be the mythical Mount Medulio, scene of collective suicide of the Celtic tribes who didn’t want to fall into the hands of the Romans. Although the most important is the location, this natural park is quite close to the beach (around 15km) so you don’t need to travel to enjoy a camp day. budino

Rande vs Golden Gate Bridge

If the Golden Gate bridge is the Gate between the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, The Rande Bridge is the door that connects San Simon’s Bay with the Vigo’s Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. While Golden Gate (2700m total lenght) is part of the US Route 101 and connects the city of San Francisco, the Rande’s one (1500m total lenght) is part of the AP9 highway (the most important road in Galifornia) and connects Vigo with the Peninsula of Morrazo. You can choose which is the most beautiful one. image_blog_galifornia2

Bay cruises improved with Cies Islands

San Francisco and Galifornia share the possibility to have Bay cruises, that are the best way to feel gentle bay breezes, glittering waves, smart dolphins, and discover the skyline of San Francisco or Vigo. A cruise in San Francisco can be a great experience but Galiformia’s cruises have an extra feature. The can leave you in Cies Islands, an archipelago (around 8 km to the nearest coast) that was selected by the english newspaper The Guardian as “the best beach in the world.” Just google “Cies Islands” and you will find incredible images like this one. image_blog_galifornia3

Vigo Ria and San Francisco Bay

Vigo is situated on the “Ria de Vigo”, a large estuary which spans over more than 35km with with a maximum width of 7 km. Its easy access, deep draft and calm waters make the Vigo estuary an ideal retreat for sailing and water sports, like the San Francisco Bay. The bay of San Francisco is bigger but the Vigo Bay is oriented to the west and you can enjoy everyday the sunset over Cies Islands. image_blog_galifornia4

Vigo and San Francisco’s steep streets

  San Francisco is well known by its steep streets. Vigo, the main city in Galifornia region, grew also around the Castro Fortress and has a number of steep tress including Gran Via. Nowadays, Castro Fortress is one of the preferred sites for people to take a walk in Vigo, because his beautiful gardens, open spaces, ponds and also the privileged views. Castros were the towns of celtic tribes so Mount Castro was the origin of the current city. For San Francisco, Castro is a important Street and neighbourhood that is famous worldwide. Both Castros (the californian and the galifornian and on top of their cities). calles But we were talking about the slopes. You can see how steep are the stoned and ancient streets in Vigo just by watching at this MTB downtown from the Castro to the sea, recorded with a headed-mount subjective camera during the Marisquiño festival: Besides that, Vigo and San Francisco share a similar view of the skyline from the sea. image_blog_galifornia6

Cans (a place for film celebrities)

Cans Festival is celebrated every year in the small village of Cans, which has only 400 inhabitants. The main features are the strange cinema rooms: sheds, basements, empty houses, wine cellars and even henhouses of the inhabitants. Thus, the festival is considered one of the most original cinema complex in the world and quite more funny than all the festivals you know, including Cannes (France). A very special interpretation of Hollywood Hall of Fame or the french Cannes Festival. For instance the Cans’ limousines are “chimpibuses”, small tractors used in the local agriculture, specially furnished for the occasion. image_blog_galifornia7 And of course, we have at Cans our own “walk of fame”. You can see below Luis Tosar with his star in Cans, just like actor Charlie Sheen (whose grand parent, by the way, was born in Galifornia) did in Hollywood a few years ago: cans_stars More information available here: http://www.festivaldecans.com/festival2/index.php/es/eng

Albariño and Napa Valley

Albariño is a variety of white wine grape grown in Galifornia, where it is used to make varietal white wines. It was presumably brought to Iberia by Cluny monks from Rhine River. The name is a mixture of Alba, that means white in Latin, and Rinho, from the Rhine River. Albariño is the basis of Rias Baixas whine, one of the most famous white wines worldwide. Some regions have imported Albariño grapevines to have a similar success like the Napa Valley that uses old galician vines to produce white wine. Galifornia has good white wines but also great wine parties, like “Festa do Albariño” in Cambados. Each August this wine joins around 200.000 people that want to enjoy musical shows, fireworks, exhibitions, sport competitions, artworks, workshops about the Albariño and a collective tasting of the wine.

San Simon island (our Alcatraz Island and presidio)

If “The Rock” is a small island with a long history that was developed with facilities for a lighthouse, a military fortification, a military prison and a federal prison and today a national landmark, San Simon is not quite different. San Simon was a monastery, leper hospital, prison and home for orphan boys, but today is a remarkable cultural center. In addition, it was referred by poets in the Middle Ages and witness of one of the most famous ever naval wars: Rande’s battle. San Simón doesn’t hold unhealthy or macabre tourists who want to visit cells because is the place for cultural festivals like Sinsal (http://festival.sinsalaudio.es), a two-days event where the program and groups are revealed when you are in the island. image_blog_galifornia9

Barra and the beaches of Orange County

Galifornia has its own version of the californian beaches. An example could be Samil (close to Vigo) that is a urban beach with restaurants, open swimming pools, pubs, basketball courts and all you can imagine for amusement, like a beach in Santa Monica. Limens, Nerga and Barra (photo below, with Cies Islands) that share all the wildness of the beaches of the Orange County, or Patos the place to practice surf and kite-surf in Galifornia. image_blog_galifornia10

Sil Canyon

Even though the Grand Canyon is not in California but in Arizona, close to Galifornia is “Garizona” (Ourense renamed as galician Arizona), with an amazing canyon named “Cañon del Sil” in the “Ribeira Sacra” (“sacred region”) region. The name “Ribeira Sacra” comes from the latin “Rivoira Sacrata”, due to the numerous churches and abbeys around the river. canondosil

The city… and the valley

  Finally YES, Galifornia does also have a valley named like a semiconductor. It’s not silicon or graphene, but Mos Valley, which does not stand for Metal-Oxyde-Semiconductor but it’s the real name of the municipality itself (see the “Concello de Mos” website). image_blog_galifornia12 We don’t have a Google here (yet), but we have some cool IT companies around the valley like Optare, Imatia, Igalia, Krasis and of course Quobis, so think no more and come to work and live in Galifornia!
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