Vigo

The recce was going well, Cangas was looking like a great place to base ourselves for the winter. We still needed to look into travel links so with this in mind ( and a bit of a burnt backside in my case as an excuse ) we set off one morning to catch the ferry to Vigo. This leaves from the pier just opposite the marina and runs every half an hour. For the princely sum of €2.20 it takes you the 3 miles or so across the Ria to the centre of the old city.

It is a very pleasant journey on a sunny day. It is possible to sit on the top deck and enjoy views of the Ria Vigo.

On leaving the shelter of Cangas it takes about 20 mins or so to cross to the opposite shore.

After the obligatory visit to tourist information, handily located at the ferry terminal we walked into the old town and almost immediately found ourselves in " oyster alley " or  Rua Pescaderia. This street specialises in selling, and serving the local oysters which are of the flat variety.

If you are fond of oysters ( I am, Lynne isnt ) this is a must stop and taste, its possible to sample the oysters for which the Ria Vigo is famous. In fact if you like seafood at all Vigo is a kind of heaven. If it lives in or around the sea Galicians will eat it and have several delicious recipes to try!

We wandered through the old town a by now very familiar hodge podge of winding narrow granite streets. The photo above was taken in the street of the basketmakers, surprise, surprise!

It can get confusing to navigate but a good landmark to orient yourself to is this dinosaur.

 He stands at the top of the old town just before the pedestrian shopping precinct.

 

However Lynne and I feel more comfortable in the old quarter and the shops sell very quirky and interesting things.

We soon were getting quite hungry so we looked for a restaurant for lunch, Im afraid the first was a bit of a failure as we couldnt make head or tail of the menu in galician and the waiter couldnt translate for us. We moved on and found a nice restaurant down by the harbour doing a reasonable menu de dia.

Mussels are so abundant that they are actually part of the free tapas. It also seems that lunch is a very boozy do in Vigo as we got not just a glass of the local Alberiño white wine but a whole bottle. Its delicious by the way...

Fortified, we dived back onto the maze of narrow streets and were determined to climb up to the top of the hill and the fort that dominates Vigo. We never made it, we did get fairly close and the views over the Ria from our lower vantage point were nice enough.

We would leave the fort or Castro for another day, Lynne was wilting in the heat and sensibly voted to go back down into the cool streets below.

We walked down to the shopping area, big green dinosaur comes in handy here! and I treated myself to a new outfit ( linen trousers and a couple of shirts and a pair of shorts ) in of all places, C&A. Loaded with shopping and stomachs heavy with seafood we caught the ferry back to Cangas. Vigo would provide for many hours of enjoyable exploration. A surprising and affordable city, especially if you like to eat which we both do...