Village
Cedeira is a town of about 6,500 inhabitants at the head of its ria, on the northern coast of the Rías Altas, where the Condomiñas river flows into the sea; it is the smallest ria in A Coruña, with a narrow mouth that widens toward the interior. It belongs to the comarca of Ferrol and borders Cariño, Ortigueira, Cerdido and Valdoviño. Within its territory rises the sierra of A Capelada, which culminates in the cliffs of Vixía de Herbeira, 615 metres high and among the tallest in continental Europe, with the Herbeira watchtower, a stone maritime surveillance post. The town preserves a port for hake, monkfish and percebe, an old town of narrow streets and houses bearing coats of arms, and the castle of la Concepción, and on the sierra it hosts the sanctuary of San Andrés de Teixido.
Monument
A Gothic sanctuary tucked into a fold of the Sierra de A Capelada, in the parish of Régoa, near Cabo Ortegal, documented as a monastery since the 12th century and ceded in 1196 to the Order of St John of Jerusalem; its Baroque altarpiece dates from 1624, the presbytery was rebuilt in 1665 and the tower was completed in 1781. It is a renowned place of pilgrimage, with the popular saying that "whoever did not go there alive goes there dead," a tradition believed to go back to the Iron Age, although the first documentary record dates from 1391; it was also visited by Father Sarmiento, who described it in his Viaje a Galicia (1754-1755). The main pilgrimage is held on 8 September, and there is another, more liturgical one on 30 November, the feast of St Andrew.
Monument
An 18th-century hexagonal fort raised on a headland at the entrance to the ría, once armed with thirty cannon; today it works as a museum and as a viewpoint over the town, the beach and the open sea.
Monument
Gothic seafaring parish church of the fifteenth century, of basilican plan with a rectangular apse and a wooden roof; it guards the recumbent effigy of the knight Alonso de Pyñeiro, dated 1450, received its side tower in 1839, and the ensemble is completed by the Baroque chapel of Santo Antón de Corveiro.
Nature
The stretch of the Capelada range that plunges into the Atlantic beside the shrine of Santo André, in the Cedeira sector of a ridge shared with Cariño and Ortigueira where the highest cliffs in continental Europe rise.
Curiosity
The sanandresiños are little figures made of coloured breadcrumb that pilgrims buy beside the sanctuary of Santo André de Teixido, in the parish of Régoa, at the eastern end of the municipality of Cedeira, near Cabo Ortegal. Each represents a wish: a hand for love, a fish for work, a boat for travel, a saint for health and a flower for studies, and they are completed with the herba de namorar (love herb) taken home. The sanctuary, of little architectural value but rich in popular meaning, draws its main pilgrimage on 8 September; the pilgrimage is documented since 1391, and it was already visited by Father Sarmiento in the mid-18th century, who recorded the saying "vai de morto quen non foi de vivo" (whoever did not go there alive goes there dead).
Activity
A rapa das bestas held on the last Sunday in June: the besteiros bring down from the hills some three hundred horses that graze freely all year over more than two thousand hectares of the Capelada, to worm them and cut their manes.
Monument
The sanctuary of Santo André de Teixido is a chapel located in the parish of Régoa, in the east of the municipality of Cedeira, near cape Ortegal and perched above the cliffs of the sierra da Capelada. It is a famous place of pilgrimage of which, according to the popular saying, "vai de morto quen non foi de vivo": whoever does not make the pilgrimage in life must do so afterwards, turned into an animal. The main pilgrimage takes place on 8 September, although less crowded ones are held throughout the year, such as that of 30 November, Saint Andrew's day. The pilgrimage is thought to date back to the Iron Age, although the first documented record is from 1391; it was also mentioned by father Sarmiento in his Viaje a Galicia (1754-1755). The most notable part of the complex, artistically, is its baroque altarpiece.
Food and drink
The percebeiros tear the shellfish from the wave-beaten crags of A Capelada, and in July the villa devotes its festival to it. The fish market also handles hake, monkfish and lobster, the basis of the seafaring cuisine of the concello.