La Toja (La Toxa in Gallego) is an island in the Rias baixas of Galicia, Spain that is connected to mainland by a bridge. What is so special about this island you may ask?
About 100 years ago by chance they discovered springs that had a lot of minerals and that had special properties that helped with skin care. For a century they’ve been using the salts to make a whole line of products that are very famous in Spain. They also have built a nice spa with thermal waters that leverage these salts and it has become a very well known and attractive spot for visitors from all over the world.
I remember growing up in Spain and there was always this black soap at my grandmas house that I absolutely loved the smell of. To this day it’s made the old fashion way! Although as everything, with innovation now there are bath gels, different fragrances, and several other products that utilize other natural products known to help skin care such as vitamin E, Avocado, almonds, etc. You can buy these products all over Spain in stores, and they are also available online to get outside of Spain.
You can enter the Balneario (Spa) to visit the store even if you aren’t going to the Spa and view the history of the island, learn about the springs, the medicinal power of it’s minerals and you can of course buy several products to take home with you.
Across the street from the Spa their is a very unique church. The outside is completely covered in shells, scallop shells or Vieiras as they call them in Galicia. It’s one of a kind for sure, I am not sure why it’s covered in shells, nor have I found that information to share with you. I suppose it’s because there are a lot of Vieras found in this region and you can see a lot of people gathering them depending the time of year of your visit. The only warning to give is that you will notice that people have written on the shells, I wouldn’t call it graffiti exactly, it’s pretty much names of people who have visited with their date stamp. It takes a little away from the beauty of what the church would have looked like, but it’s pretty interesting nonetheless. Inside it’s pretty simple, with stained glass windows as in any catholic church in Spain, and at the altar there stands the virgin Mary holding baby Jesus in her arms all inside a Big Shell.
There are several hotels in the area and that’s about it, as there are construction restrictions. While you are there you should definitely take a swim at the beaches nearby. Praia da Lanzada is the most famous one.
Galicia has definitely been an amazing trip! Next stop Santiago de Compostela!
ccarretero 