Speaking Rías Baixas
Two main languages are commonly used in Rías Baixas, Spanish and Galician. While many of our residents speak Spanish, when you visit you will see that many of signs and names of places are in Galician – our region’s name Rías Baixas, is in Galician.
In this section we have pronunciation guides for select Galician and Spanish words that are representative of our region, let’s speak Rías Baixas!
Rías Baixas
Rí – as- Bai – xas
Condado do Tea
Con- da – do – do – tea
Galician for “The County of Tea”, named after the river Tea, a tributary of the Miño River. Located in a fairly mountainous area along the Miño, this is the second largest sub-region.
O -Rosal
O – ro – sal
Also Galician, this translates to “the rose”. Lying along the Miño River where it joins the Atlantic Ocean, this sub-region forms the border with Portugal.
Ribeira do Ulla
Ri – bei -ra – do – u – lla
Galician for Ulla Riverbank, it is the newest Rías Baixas sub-region, this area was registered in 2000 and envelops the Ulla River.
Soutomaior
Sou-to-ma-ior
Nestled in the hills at the head of the Rías de Vigo, it is the smallest of the sub-regions
Val do Salnés
Val – do – sal – nés
Val do Salnés, or Salnes Valley, is known as the birthplace of the Albariño grape.