Day 7 - Santiago to Vigo

Day 7 - Santiago to Vigo

We had a slow sort of day today getting from Santiago to Vigo having realised that we don't have two but four days to get to Lisbon! So we're going to spend 2 days in Vigo and tomorrow is going to be a non-biking day.
We left Santiago via these cool modern buildings - something to do with the university, we think.

University buildings in Santiago

We had to make a special detour to get these pics. Only knew they existed because we went the wrong way YESTERDAY!


We left as the remnants of the rain was trying to squeeze themselves from the sky and decided that we would ride AWAY from the cold and rain and find the sun. BBC weather said that Vigo was where the sun was shining so here we are!

Bridge to Illa de Arousa

We decided to get from Santiago to Vigo by the coast road - so 125 miles at between 25-30mph. This took us past vineyards - vines growing tall and so hanging rather than in rows like in France. We crossed over this bridge to the Illa de Arousa - bridge was great but the Illa rather a tourist and beach-lounger affair so we didn't even touch the ground with our feet!

Boats off Illa de Arousa

There were some good sights though and this the harbour at Illa de Arousa. Weather was following us all the time trying to threaten rain and cold but we kept ahead and it's now given up...thankfully.

Here're the hanging vines that go on for miles and miles. We've had some good wine both in tabernas and from shops. We had a really good Tempranillo for 1E90 - could've been nasty but we were pleasantly surprised.

Eyeing up the terrace for our first beer!

We spied this terrace that overlooks the harbour in Vigo and climbed up and had a cold dark beer looking out at people disembarking from the tour boats.

In Vigo tonight is some sort of Saint festival. Hundreds and hundreds of folk carrying lit candles (in the blazing sunshine - so a bit pointless, we thought). We popped into the church in the middle of town which was PACKED so much we couldn't get in through the front door! We abandoned that and walked back to our hotel contra a few more hundred people heading towards the festivities. Rob asked and old woman, who was selling the candles, what it was all about. She told him about the festival but seemed quite appalled that he didn't know about which Saint's Day it was and what the candles were for. Rob said 'gracias' but she let out a big huff as she took some more cash for another couple of candles! We're back off into town at 7.30 to see what is is all about - pics tomorrow. On the way though we did pass this troupe of young pipers and stopped to do a quick video.

We also saw these children walking down the street having been to the church, presumably. We thought they were sweet!








And, by the way, we WERE in the tapas bar at 9.45 as we said we would be yesterday. We were just a bit to the left of the guy with the glasses but it WAS FANTASTIC! ....and we probably spent too long there. Here's a reminder of what it looked like.

Debbie and Rob sat (for about an hour) four people to the LEFT of the guy with the glasses.
Muy sabroso, bastante allegre y, probablemente, demasiado vino y comida!