From a hill above the ría, the surface of the water looks broken up by a flotilla of black rectangles. These are the bateas — anchored wooden rafts, each about twenty metres square, from which mussels and oysters grow on hanging ropes. The Ría de Arousa has the largest concentration of bateas anywhere in Europe, several thousand of them, and shellfish farming is the comarca's other great export besides Albariño.
Several operators in Vilanova de Arousa, Cambados, and Illa de Arousa run two- or three-hour boat trips out among the rafts. The standard tour stops at a working batea, where the crew haul a rope on board and demonstrate sorting and grading, then serves freshly steamed mussels and a chilled glass of Albariño on deck. It is one of the more enjoyable things you can do in Galicia for half a day, and a good way to see the ría from the water rather than just along it.