Padrón is a city and a municipality in the province of A Coruña, in Galicia (Spain).
The economy is based mainly on fishing and agriculture, especially its famous green peppers.
Main attractions
Padrón is linked to important figures of Galician literature, such as Macías el Enamorado, Juan Rodríguez de Padrón, Camilo José Cela or Rosalía de Castro, whose house, called “A Matanza” where he lived his last years and died, and today converted into a museum, is located on the outskirts of town.
You can also visit the church of Santiago Apóstol, in which two epigraphs are kept, one Roman, on the tradition of the saint and the other from 1133, on the reconstruction of the church started by Bishop Gelmírez.
In the surroundings of the town you can see numerous palaces of nobles and old families and a few kilometers, on a hill between large rocks is the hermitage of “Santiaguiño do Monte”.
Every year, on the 25th of July, the Santiago Apóstol festival, a popular pilgrimage is held there, enlivened afterwards with doll contests and where some traditional dishes of Galician cuisine are consumed.
Likewise, every Sunday Padrón is home to one of the most popular markets in Galicia, in which there is a significant presence of local fruit and vegetable products –especially the well-known peppers–, as well as clothing, cheeses, breads.
Gastronomy
The most famous produce of Padrón are its peppers (Galician pementos de Padrón), which are small green peppers from the Capsicum annuum family. They are served fried with olive oil and coarse salt.
Most taste sweet and mild, though some are particularly hot and spicy, which gives its character to the dish and is perfectly captured in the popular “Os pementos de Padrón, uns pican e outros non” (Galician for “Padrón peppers, some are hot and some are not”).
The level of heat varies according to the capsaicin of each pepper. Although it’s not always the case, the peppers grown towards August/September tend to contain more capsaicin than the ones of June/July.
About 15,000 kg of peppers are grown in Padrón each year (mostly in the valley of the parish of Herbón) between June and September.
In 1979 the first Festa do Pemento de Padrón was organized in Herbón, a popular gastronomic event that has been held every year since, the first Sunday in August.
The festa takes place in the carballeira of Herbón’s Franciscan friary, since it was the Franciscan friars who brought the first pepper seeds from Mexico in the 16th century, which then were adapted to the soil, the Oceanic climate of the Valley and grown with special techniques.
There is one Michelin list restaurant in the city:
O’Pazo, Lugar de Pazos, 70 – 100 EUR • Grills
How to get to?
From A Coruña 1 hr 3 min (97.2 km) via AP-9
From Santiago de Compostela 26 min (25.7 km) via AP-9
From Madrid 6 hr 1 min (621 km) via A-6 and A-52
Main information
Area: 48 sq. km
GPS coordinates: 42°44′20″N 8°39′37″W
Language: Spanish, Galician
Population: 8366
Currency: Euro
Visa: Schengen
Time: Central European UTC +1, in summer +2
