''Praia das Catedrais'' (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

: ''playa de las Catedrales'',

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: Beach of the Cathedrals) is on the northwest coast of

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. It is the name given by the tourism industry to Praia de Augas Santas (translated from Galician: 'Beach of the Holy Waters'). The beach is located in the

Ribadeo Ribadeo is a municipality in the Spanish province of Lugo in Galicia. It has a population of 10,023 ( INE, 2011) and an area of . It is the capital of the A Mariña Oriental comarca. Geography The municipality of Ribadeo has approximately the ...

municipality, in the

province of Lugo Lugo is a province of northwestern Spain, in the northeastern part of the autonomous community of Galicia. It is bordered by the provinces of Ourense, Pontevedra, and A Coruña, the principality of Asturias, the State of León, and in th ...

( Galicia), on the Cantabric coast, and it lies about ten kilometres to the west of the town of Ribadeo. Its name is derived from its cliff formations. It has been declared a

Natural Monument A natural monument is a natural or natural/cultural feature of outstanding or unique value because of its inherent rarity, representative of aesthetic qualities or cultural significance. Under World Commission on Protected Areas guidelines, na ...

by the regional Ministry for the Environment of the

Xunta de Galicia The Xunta de Galicia (; "Regional Government of Galicia") is the collective decision-making body of the government of the autonomous community of Galicia, composed of the President, the Vice-President(s) and the specialized ministers (''Consell ...

Overview

The characteristic features of the beach are its

natural arch A natural arch, natural bridge, or (less commonly) rock arch is a natural landform where an arch has formed with an opening underneath. Natural arches commonly form where inland cliffs, coastal cliffs, fins or stacks are subject to erosion ...

es and caves, which can be seen only at low tide. During

high tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables c ...

, the beach appears small, but still suitable for swimming. During low tide the size of its cliffs and sea caves is more apparent, ranging from small cracks on the rock to big caves whose roofs have collapsed due to the erosion of the waves. At low tide, there is access to a sand deposit delimited by a rocky wall made from slate and

schist Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock showing pronounced schistosity. This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a low-power hand lens, oriented in such a way that the rock is easily split into thin flakes ...

forming 30 meters arches resembling cathedral flying buttresses, large caves, sand corridors between rocky blocks, and other geological features. Particularly low tides create access to nearby beaches through the sand extension. As the coast stretch is almost horizontal, the water covers the beach again very quickly.

Gallery

File:Praia das catedrais, Ribadeo.jpg File:Praia de Augas Santas, Ribadeo.jpg File:Ribadeo. Playa de las catedrales.jpg File:As Catedrais - panoramio.jpg File:As Catedrais Lugo Galicia.jpg File:As Catedrais.JPG File:As Catedrais-Ribadeo (Galiza).jpg File:Playa de las catedrales (Lugo).jpg

References

*''This article contains information taken from th
Enciclopedia Libre Universal
released in Spanish under CC-BY-SA 3.0 License.''

External links

Official Website
where a brief description of the beach can be found

(click "machine translations: No" there, to get comments in English) {{coord, 43, 33, 14, N, 7, 9, 26, W, type:landmark_region:ES-G, display=title Beaches of Galicia (Spain) Geography of the Province of Lugo Protected areas of Galicia (Spain)