TUI Y RIBADAVIA, EN EL NEW YORK TIMES

After we got lost during a rainstorm in the Galician city of Vigo, a series of parador signs guided us to Tui (pronounced twee, and sometimes spelled Tuy). Once there, we didn’t want to leave. This is a small parador, and one of the few that isn’t in an ancient building. (The structure, a very good imitation of a Galician manor house, was built in 1968 and extensively remodeled last year.)
But it’s the views to the Miño River — and then across the river to the Portugese town of Valença do Minho with its medieval fort — that make the location a gem. Adding to the richness, the bridge across the Miño, just north of the parador and visible from many of its rooms, is a basketweave structure designed by Gustave Eiffel.
Tui, charming in itself, is also a perfect base for exploring the Minho valley. Twenty minutes east of Tui is Ribadavia, where the old Jewish barrio is a trip back to the 11th century, when Jews first settled there. An elderly woman named Herminia runs a bakery that specializes in breads formed into stars of David — an apparent lure for the Jewish tourists who occasionally happen upon her shop.
Down the narrow cobblestone streets from the Jewish quarter is an imposing house bearing the coats of arms of the town’s leading families; poignantly, it was the regional headquarters of the Inquisition.