Eel Festival and Country Cane Exhibition

Eel and eau-de-vie, ideal pairing in Valga

In August, the town pays tribute to this tasty fish and the "caña do país".

The Eel and Caña del País festival is held in Valga at the end of summer, specifically on the last weekend of August, to bid farewell to the month in style; three days in which the Pontevedra town offers the different dishes and tapas that can be made with this delicacy, such as pies, stew with potatoes and fried, battered or pickled eel.

This culinary festival is preceded by a tapas competition in which the local catering trade is particularly encouraged to take part. After the selection of the finalist tapas, a popular tasting chooses the winner.

Traditional eau-de-vie

As a good gastronomic festival, it is accompanied by another popular spirits drink, the local eau-de-vie, popularly known in Galician as caña do país. If the first celebration is a tribute to the river Ulla, this second one is a tribute to the distillation of traditional eau-de-vie, when the aguardenteros went from parish to parish to carry out the distillations; they slept in the different alpendres and stayed there for at least a week for the potadas (filling and emptying of the stills), under the lodging and feeding of the people who went to do the potadas daily.

In addition to the eel competition, there is another competition in which prizes are awarded for the best eaux-de-vie of each variety: white, herbal and toasted. The competition and the tasting take place on Friday and Saturday, and the prizes are awarded on Sunday.

Magical queimada

In the regular programme of the Muestra de la Caña del País there is a special space for the most magical and attractive of the regional beverages: on Saturday at midnight there is usually a demonstration of the popular Galician queimada.

In the demonstration, which takes place during the witching hour and is free for the public to taste, up to 300 litres of alcohol have been burnt. According to tradition, this magical concoction must be accompanied by an incantation to keep evil spirits away. Its preparation depends on the taste of the master of ceremonies and can include anything from coffee beans to orange or lemon peels and even some fruit; meanwhile, the original and preferred by the most traditional people still has only brandy and sugar.

What to see in Valga

For those who wish to spend more time in the town, you can enjoy a walk in the surrounding area, through the Mina Mercedes lagoon in Campaña, of artificial origin as an open-cast mine and naturally converted into a lagoon.

A longer walk is the Cuntis-Valga Trail (PRG-21), a route of up to 17 kilometres between the two towns, or a visit to the different waterfalls, such as the Parafita waterfall or those of the river Valga.
For those interested in archaeology, in Cordeiro you can visit the site of Igrexa Vella, one of the most important excavations in the region, which includes a necropolis of Gothic origin.