Vigo
The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain – so they say. In our case the rain in Spain stays mainly on Vigo, the fog rolls in on the mountains and the sun shines in Baiona.
Before leaving on the cruise we really didn’t have a lot of information on Vigo, most people go to the cathedral in Santiago which is a religious stopping point for many pilgrimages. We weren’t too interested in that so decided to do a tour through the ship called the Pioneering Spirit of Galacia.
It was a bit misty when we boarded the tour bus but by the time we reached our first stop, a mountain top overlooking Vigo Bay, the rain was coming down steadily. Troopers that we are, we took about a 5-10 minute walk to the scenic overlook. Of course, there wasn’t much to see as the rain and some fog were blocking our “scenic” views of the Bay.
Not to be deterred, we continued on. The bus took us through many small towns where we could see that virtually all families had nice gardens and grape vines in their front yards. Picture taking was a bit difficult as it was still raining and the drops continued to get bigger on the windows of the bus.
Our next stop was at the top of another mountain (I bet you can tell where this is going!) to view a Celtic settlement and to get another scenic view – this time of the point where the Mino River meets with the Atlantic Ocean and to see the meeting point of Portugal and Spain. Still braving the rain, we got out at the old settlement that had been inhabited in the Iron Age by 3000 Celts. One of the small huts had been rebuilt, the remaining portion was the foundation of the other huts – obviously these people didn’t mind being in close quarters with all of their neighbors! We went to the top of the mountain for the overlook of the ocean and the river – it just wasn’t a good day to try this. The fog was so thick that we couldn’t even see our bus after walking a few feet away. We’ve heard the expression about fog rolling in – this was true up there – you could see the fog just rolling past in waves. In between the waves, you could see probably 50 yards away, otherwise visibility was less than half that.
Continuing on, we came back down the mountain for a drive along the seashore to the town of Baiona where fortunately we were visited by the sun! This stop included a stop to a local Parador (hotel) where they served Tapas and drinks. There were different snacks available –some kind of fried thing with ham, other crackers with salmon, some kind of bread pudding looking item (don’t know what it was but it wasn’t bread pudding!) and potato chips. Lance was adventurous and tried several items, I was satisfied with being responsible for taking care of the potato chips! The Parador was located by the Castle of Monterreal, an old fortress built to protect the nuns and priests from the pirates long ago.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t our favorite stop. We enjoyed seeing some of the area around Vigo but overall, it just wasn’t as interesting and picturesque as some of our other stops. Tomorrow is our last day on the ship, we leave Vigo at 5:00 to head back to Southampton, we should get there around 5 am local time. When we arrive, we are sharing a ride back to Heathrow with another couple so there should be a car waiting to pick us up when we arrive.
Before leaving on the cruise we really didn’t have a lot of information on Vigo, most people go to the cathedral in Santiago which is a religious stopping point for many pilgrimages. We weren’t too interested in that so decided to do a tour through the ship called the Pioneering Spirit of Galacia.
It was a bit misty when we boarded the tour bus but by the time we reached our first stop, a mountain top overlooking Vigo Bay, the rain was coming down steadily. Troopers that we are, we took about a 5-10 minute walk to the scenic overlook. Of course, there wasn’t much to see as the rain and some fog were blocking our “scenic” views of the Bay.
Not to be deterred, we continued on. The bus took us through many small towns where we could see that virtually all families had nice gardens and grape vines in their front yards. Picture taking was a bit difficult as it was still raining and the drops continued to get bigger on the windows of the bus.
Our next stop was at the top of another mountain (I bet you can tell where this is going!) to view a Celtic settlement and to get another scenic view – this time of the point where the Mino River meets with the Atlantic Ocean and to see the meeting point of Portugal and Spain. Still braving the rain, we got out at the old settlement that had been inhabited in the Iron Age by 3000 Celts. One of the small huts had been rebuilt, the remaining portion was the foundation of the other huts – obviously these people didn’t mind being in close quarters with all of their neighbors! We went to the top of the mountain for the overlook of the ocean and the river – it just wasn’t a good day to try this. The fog was so thick that we couldn’t even see our bus after walking a few feet away. We’ve heard the expression about fog rolling in – this was true up there – you could see the fog just rolling past in waves. In between the waves, you could see probably 50 yards away, otherwise visibility was less than half that.
Continuing on, we came back down the mountain for a drive along the seashore to the town of Baiona where fortunately we were visited by the sun! This stop included a stop to a local Parador (hotel) where they served Tapas and drinks. There were different snacks available –some kind of fried thing with ham, other crackers with salmon, some kind of bread pudding looking item (don’t know what it was but it wasn’t bread pudding!) and potato chips. Lance was adventurous and tried several items, I was satisfied with being responsible for taking care of the potato chips! The Parador was located by the Castle of Monterreal, an old fortress built to protect the nuns and priests from the pirates long ago.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t our favorite stop. We enjoyed seeing some of the area around Vigo but overall, it just wasn’t as interesting and picturesque as some of our other stops. Tomorrow is our last day on the ship, we leave Vigo at 5:00 to head back to Southampton, we should get there around 5 am local time. When we arrive, we are sharing a ride back to Heathrow with another couple so there should be a car waiting to pick us up when we arrive.