What you can see on the Fisterra webcam
The camera looks down on the lighthouse, a square, cream-coloured building with its lantern on top, and past it over a low wall of rocks to nothing but ocean. There is no beach and no town in the shot: it is a view of the weather. You can see at a glance whether the horizon is sharp or lost in haze, whether the sea is glassy or streaked with wind, and whether fog has rolled in over the cape. Salt spray and the low sun can leave a milky veil on the picture.
Cape Finisterre lighthouse webcam
Only a few steps from the lighthouse at the tip of the cape, this live camera looks down over a low wall onto the lighthouse building, with its lantern and weather masts, and the bare granite rocks beside it. Beyond is nothing but the Atlantic, stretching to a long, straight horizon.
That emptiness is what makes it useful. A sharp horizon and deep blue water promise a clear sunset; a pale, hazy line means mist or fog over the cape; dark streaks and white flecks on the sea mean wind. When the low sun shines into the lens, the picture can turn milky for a while, and salt spray sometimes blurs it on stormy days.
Finisterre on the Shipping Forecast
For anyone who grew up with BBC Radio 4, the name has another ring. Finisterre was one of the sea areas read out in the Shipping Forecast until 2002, when the Met Office renamed it FitzRoy, after Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle and founder of the forecasting service that became the Met Office. The reason was practical: Spain's own weather service uses the name Finisterre for a different, smaller sea area off this coast, and two areas with one name could confuse a ship's crew.
When to watch Fisterra
Sunset is the event. Because Galicia sits so far west on Central European Time, the sun goes down late: after 10pm local time in midsummer, which is 9pm in the UK and Ireland, and around 6pm in December. Summer mornings often start in fog. In winter, Atlantic storms send big seas against the cape.
Around Fisterra
The fishing town of Fisterra lies about 2 miles (3 km) back from the lighthouse, around its harbour. On the sheltered east side, Langosteira is a long, calm beach facing the ría of Corcubión; on the exposed west side, Mar de Fóra is beautiful but dangerous for swimming. Across the bay to the east, the river Xallas drops straight into the sea at the Ézaro waterfall, below the bare granite of Monte Pindo.
Visiting Fisterra
The road from the town climbs to a car park near the lighthouse, and a stone marker there counts down to kilometre zero of the Camino, about 56 miles (90 km) on foot from Santiago. Above the lighthouse the cliffs are steep and mostly unfenced, and the wind can be strong: keep to the paths, especially at dusk.
