Vigo Spain

Mont de Castro fortress.

Today we set out on a hill climb to try and work off extravagant amounts of food we have been consuming on the Ryndam. Even though it is not to far from the port it is quite a climb to the Mont de Castro fortress.

Near the port of Vigo

We wandered around the city streets window shopping while winding our way up hill. Once at the top the city views from here are superb. Another great spot for a coffee before heading back.
With a population of 468,654, Vigo is the largest city in Spain that is not also a provincial capital. Located in the northwest corner of Spain in a state called Galicia,

Mont de Castro fortress.

For centuries Vigo’s natural harbour  has beckoned to mariners. Its climate is mild and the protected bay offers a safe place to harvest seafood and conduct trade. The Romans upon landing at the harbour immediately set about fortifying and protecting it.  Vigo was built over an old Roman settlement and the name of the city was derived from the Latin word Vicus. In 1656 the walls of the city were commissioned  by the king of Spain after several raids by pirates, most famously Sir Francis Drake.

Trish doing what she does best Vigo Spain

In 1719 Vigo was occupied by the British as punishment for sending a Spanish fleet that was based in Vigo to invade Scotland in support of the Jacobites. In 1808 the French army annexed Spain to the Napoleonic Empire however it was the first city to be released from French rule. This is celebrated on the 28 March each year.

Click Read More below for more and more photos…………

Geocaching Mont de Castro fortress

Modern day Vigo is the largest fishing port in all of Europe and is home to the worlds largest fishing company, Pescanova.
As a bonus today we found a couple of geocaches around the fortress. Other geocachers(and family)  from the USA were looking for the same cache as us so we just watched them searching for a while. Since they were not having any luck either we  introduced ourselves and joined  forces and the cache was soon found behind some stones in the fortress wall.
We took the long way back down through smaller staircases and through smaller back streets and older housing areas to a convenient shopping plaza at the port itself. Here we took advantage of free wifi at a coffee shop until we realized we had only 15 min to be on the ship!!! So the Cadiz blog post was very rushed!! 

Listening to a harp – Mont de Castro fortress Vigo

Trish and Police collection – Vigo Spain

Sail Awaiy Vigo Spain

The rear pool had been heated so we relaxed in the pool for a while as we sailed away from Spain to cross the Bay of Biscay and our next port of St Malo France.