Blogs from Vigo, Galicia, Spain, Europe

Some of you that may have read our other blog, some of this will be a repeat, but we have tried to fill in some of the details for you about our trip thus far since leaving Lagos. As you may have figured from our previous entries we have been somewhat anxious to get moving again. We definitely enjoyed our stay in Lagos, Portugal but figured it was time to start moving north toward the Baltic. We decided to take advantage of a weather window that was to be 3-4 days long allowing us to start the move north. For those of you sailors that may be superstitious we want to reassure you that even though May 3rd was a Friday we really weren’t heading north yet – we were just moving to our staging point ... read more

One of the joys of living in a relatively popular, foreign city is the snobby, ridiculous smugness you feel when you see tourists, who are obviously tourists, wandering round, lost, sunburnt and a bit flustered. Perhaps smugness is the wrong word as it comes from the “I recognise that feeling – thank God it’s not me again” school of emotions, so maybe relief laced with sympathy is a better way to describe it. Either way, there is something kind of fun about it all. Going past the harbour (a particularly deep harbour for this part of the world, so I’m told, impressed huh?) and seeing a cruise ship there means that there’s always a couple of mood-lightening treats around the corner. By way of an aside, the whole cruise thing is something I have never really ... read more

About an hour’s walk from my flat, there is a beach called Samil, maybe it is the fact that since I left Liverpool 10 years ago, I haven’t lived near a beach – Leeds, San Jose, Xiangfan and Budapest all being decidedly inland – but as beaches go, it’s a damn good one. White sand, clear blue water, little quiet inlets and bays and lots of rocks just waiting to be climbed on. The islands opposite, accessible only by boat and only in the summer, are called The Cíes Islands and a few years ago they were voted the most beautiful beaches in the world – although by whom is something I’m not sure about as it may have been The Cíes Islands tourist board for all I know. Of course, it’s not all sunshine and ... read more

When getting to somewhere new I always have a tendency to compare my arrival with my arrivals in the places before it, almost as a way of getting a handle on things immediately and trying to get a feeling of comfortability and familiarity straightaway. Getting to Vigo airport was no different. The jet-lag, the nerves and the crying baby on the plane were all reminiscent of the flights to Costa Rica, China and Budapest, which provided me with some comfort. What was different, however, was that here, I was accompanied on the flight by the entire Celta Vigo squad (the local football team) who then proceeded to chat to kids who were staring in awe before loading all of their gear up themselves and leaving – difficult to imagine this happening in England somehow. It was ... read more