Pontepedriña is a not particularly attractive neighborhood in the Zona Nueva of Santiago de Compostela. The architecture consists of bland and boxy slabs of concrete that bear little resemblance to the UNESCO sight pilgrims and tourists come to visit year round. Yet on the border of this ugly neighborhood, just a matter of crossing the street, is a small paradise. To the southwest is the Parque do Paxonal Eugenio Granell, and to the southeast is Brañas do Sar, a lush park with verdant trails along the river Sar. The urban gardens of Brañas do Sar belong to a network of over 270 community gardens throughout Santiago de Compostela, one of the largest networks of urban gardens in Spain. The gardens create community–people share and trade crops and conversation, and the older generations pass down their love and respect for the land to the younger generations. In Galicia it is not at all uncommon to have an active vegetable garden attached to your home, so the urban gardens extend this practice to those who live in apartments and have little access to land they can cultivate.
A San Francisco Girl in Ovar, Portugal 