Port 69 Vigo, Spain

by Ed · May 14, 2022

Buenos dias!

We arrived in Vigo on May 10th, 2022, under the cloak of full darkness, then re-awoke to beautiful blue skies, and pleasantly cooler weather!

The bay is long, but we finally arrive in Vigo.

We wake to find we have company – the Royal Caribbean Jewel of the Sea is ahead of us.

Welcome to Vigo!

We don’t have a tour today. We’ve been to Vigo before but don’t remember much about it, so we want to walk around town. They have a new casino at the port that helps us get into the walled part of town without having to climb steps! There is a bridge from the casino to the city!

Our first stop is the Concatedral – Basilica de Santa Maria de Vigo.

Just before we go in I spot Captain Jack Sparrow on a balcony overlooking the Cathedral’s square! Fortunately he doesn’t look very threatening today.

Inside the cathedral is beautiful! The neoclassical styling is gorgeous, with the clean columns, crenelated balconies, and rounded arches. The frescoes are stunning in blue and gold tones! A service was just beginning so we didn’t dally.

Walking through town the overall architecture is beautiful! The older buildings are a bit dirty, but the styling is priceless.

We find the pride and symbol of the city, the “Fish Man” who guards the port!

Then we set off to find some horses. We found a horse sculpture here in 2008, and want to see if we can find it again! On our way we pass some beautiful buildings! This one has horses on the towers, but not the ones we are looking for! This is a theater!

Next door is an surprisingly simple structure, the Arts Foundation (Casa de las Artes)!

This beautiful building turns out to be a bank – The Bank of Galicia.

And this one is a bank – Santander! Makes you wonder if they are making too much money off the people…

This is the Monument to Work (Monumento al Trabajo) called Los Rederos. Six well-muscled, perhaps over-developed, men fight to pull in a fishing net. This is a striking sculpture!

We head up the Avenida de Grand Via, and I do mean “up”! Our trek to the horses is uphill all the way! But we get an assist! Since the last time we were here they installed people movers on the uphill side! Sweet! So this is our view for a few blocks…

…then it becomes this. Under construction! But our target is in sight!

We find the horse sculpture! This is five horses climbing their way up! It is called Caballos Salvajes – Wild Horses!

Mission accomplished we turn our attention to the Castle of Castro and the park. After a winding walk uphill, and a few steps later, we find a gate through a wall.

We enter and walk around a bit. We have some lovely views from here through the trees! Here is Vigo!

Here’s the port! We can’t see Insignia – I think she’s behind the trees on the right.

Across the bay we can see the oyster and mussel farms in the water.

And we find this beautiful little statue. The plaque says this is a place of rememberance for 136 men killed here for defending their freedom from Francoism during World War II – “the people will not forget”.

There is another wall within this wall. We head for the gate.

This wall is surprisingly thick! We head in, and go up the stairs in the distance!

This is the little plaza we entered, from above!

There is a lovely park up here now!

There is an interesting sculpture of four men supporting a building covered with boulders. I can’t find a plaque to learn the name of the piece or artist.

We’re not sure what this is, but it looks like a torture device!

This is the drinking fountain in the park!

Joy was sneaking a peek through the watchtower window, so I snagged the opportunity!

Now we can see our ship from this viewpoint! Insignia is the little one on the right. I’ll accept this as the gratuitous photo today.

We make our way down the hill.

At the bottom of the steps from the castle is this nice tribute to the Army and Navy.

Beautiful murals depict a squid taking its anger out on a deep sea diver and submarine, and a fisherman with a nice catch! Is there a significance to the color of the fish?