Sunday June 09, 2024 – Vigo, Spain
We sailed into this Spanish port which is South of A Coruña, and larger, being only 1/2hour drive from the Portugal border. A beautiful estuary arriving at the Cruise port which is barely a five minute walk into the old town. We docked, Port to Dock just before 9:30 AM and we were soon ashore and onto Coach 1 for our tour to a neighboring town of Bayona La Real, with Guide Anna (at best average, very vague and poor whisper audio equipment) and Driver – Daniel.
On our way out of Viga, we passed the largest Fish market in Europe, where some 150+ refrigerated lorries carry away the auctioned fish each morning to venues throughout the Iberian Peninsula as well as neighboring European Markets. The city has a population of 300,000, but due to all the industry (mainly Peugeot & Citroen factories) and the large port, employing over 10,000 people, the size of the city grows to 500,000 during the work week.
Our first stop was the Fortress of El Castro which was built in 1665 to defend against British invasions. However in the Battle of Vigo Bay in October 1702 the combined British /Dutch defeated the French / Spanish. In 1809 it was briefly held by the French, before being re-captured by the Spanish. Today, the dual walled fortress is a great place to walk around as it has great views over Vigo. We passed the Wild Horses Statue in one of the roundabouts done by sculptor Juan José Oliveira Viéitez (1928-2002), who did some 700 horse sculptures. He was a horse breeder, so knew the anatomy of the horses, as such he created life like statues.
We then travelled South along the coast to the town of Baiona, a charming town dating back to 600 BCE when the Celts lived here, and our stop was at the Fortaleza (Fortress) de Monterreal on the Mont Boi promontory built between the 11th and 17th centuries, converted to luxury hotel – one of many “Paradores” or luxury hotels where the government converted key locations (Castles, Forts etc.) around the country into tourist resorts / accommodations. (Parador de Baiona – Avenida Arquitecto Jesús Valverde, 3 36300 Baiona (Pontevedra) Tel +34 986355000; baiona@parador.es). We were taken into one of the baronial halls and given wine, coffee, soft drinks and local pastries. The location overlooking the ocean is spectacular and the entire compound with chapel (for special services) and other buildings is definitely a place to return.
After the brief respite, we wandered down the coastal road, seeing the replicas of the caravelle “La Pinta” one of Christopher Columbus’s three ships that returned to Spain stopping in Baiona in 1493, which ended up being the first place where Europe was advised of the New World. The Niña and Santa Maria, returned to Lisbon, but arrived after the faster Pinta. Seeing the full size replica of the Pinta 56 ft (17 meters) long by 17.6 feet (2.31 meters) wide / beam, it was amazing to see how small these vessels were that crossed the Atlantic! Many private yachts were smaller and the length of two “Pinta’s” would have easily fit to the Width of the Queen Anne (117 feet beam) with room to spare!! We then walked back to the coach through the town and a narrow shopping / restaurant filled road, which was bustling with the Sunday crowd out for a nice family lunch. The coach ride back to the ship was via the coastal road where various towns and villages were traversed, all very attractive and with nice beaches and lots of charm.
Having been dropped off at the ship we crossed the street and were in the lower part of the old city. We wandered up the hill looking for the Cathedral, passing shops and restaurants, It was interesting to note that being 2PM, many of the shops, even tourist type shops were closing, even though there were two large ships in the port, ourselves and a Norwegian vessel of similar size. Unfortunately, the cathedral was closed until the 6PM mass, by which time we had already left the port. However we were directed to an area of the old town where tourists are less likely to go and went to a local Tapas restaurant, which we thoroughly enjoyed, served by a waitress from São Paulo Brazil!!! Octopus, Ham, Shrimp and other such delicacies were enjoyed with a local beer.
Back on the ship, we skipped dinner as we were not through with lunch until 4:30PM, but did go to the show which was the pianist / comedian Jon Courtnay.
Roger & Anne Travels 