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Fun in the Anchor Locker
Bob just can’t get enough of sitting in the anchor locker! Fortunately he got both the windlass and the wash down pump fixed from this location. Most times when we stop somewhere we never know how long it will be for, most times this is a result of waiting for weather and sometimes it’s because we thoroughly enjoy the place. Both of these happened to us in Cangas. We thought we would be here for a few days, but it turned into 19! It started off with the warm welcome that we received from the marina staff ( Real Club Nautico Rodeira) right through to the warm send off we received with the gift of smart looking Club shirts which we will proudly wear. The other selling points of this place is the ease of access for shopping, an informative tourist bureau, excellent bus system that connects to the train stations, daily ferries to Vigo and the island of Cies, entertainment at the local auditorium and plenty of cafes for our afternoon treat of café au lait, beer or wine. The real bonus was the excellent marine chandlery (Ibericamar) just across the street from the marina with a very knowledgeable owner, Manuel.
The weather was not with us for traveling north, so we decided to take the time to do some exploring. One day we took
View of Vigo
A view of Vigo as we were arriving by ferry from Cangas which is situated across the river. the ½ hour ferry ride to Vigo, a large city across the ria (estuary/river) from Cangas. We enjoyed the day exploring the historic area of the city which included two fortresses, a Celtic settlement and Cathedral. The views of the city and the ria from the hilltop were beautiful and well worth the climb. It is believed that the Celtics settled in this area in 3 BC. There is an excellent outdoor museum with an archeological site set up with displays and reproductions of the Celtic homes originally located here. It is interesting how much of what we saw reminded us of the homes in Botswana. The similarities in the grass roofed, round homes to the clay pots used for cooking. The Celtic influence is obvious in the traditional Galician dance and music (bagpipes and harps). However according to one amateur historian we met the bagpipe is an instrument that is found in many nations traditions. Although we tend to associate it with Scotland there appears to be significant evidence that thanks to traveling merchants and minstrels this is an instrument that was widespread throughout early Europe.
Another day we took a 20 minute bus ride to a nearby
Inviting Us To Explore
The narrow alleyways in the historic parts of the city of Vigo kept inviting us to explore higher and higher up into the hills that they are built on. town of Bueu. In researching information on an extremely large, now closed fish cannery in Cangas mentioned in the last blog (Masso) we found that there was a museum in Bueu where the first cannery was located. It was well worth the trip, it showed the whole canning process with films taken in the late 1930’s. It was an extensive business which included the making of all of the tin cans, sorting the fish, packing the cans and even included making the wooden shipping boxes. At the height of Masso’s empire in the 1930s and 40s the company employed thousands in the area and not only was involved in canning sardines but also had a shipyard for maintaining the fishing vessels, a whale processing facility and ran schools and day care centers for its employees. Masso was a collector of maritime artifacts which are now on exhibit in an upstairs dark, wood paneled library. These included Portuguese pilot books that had been used back in the 1500’s, ancient navigational tools (early sexton’s and an astrolabe which was the navigational tool for several hundred years prior to the development of the sextant) and many beautiful boat models. The boat models varied
Celtic Settlement
The Celtics settled in this area from 3BC to 3AD shown by the remains that were found here in Vigo. An extensive aquaduct system was found here. in size from those small enough to fit in a small bottle to several that were six and seven feet long.
Mussel farming is one of the main agricultural productions in Galicia. The first rafts were set up in Bueu in 1954. Fortunately for us the day we went all of the fishing boats were in the harbor due to it being a public holiday. This gave us a close up look at the boats and the equipment that they carry. We found out that the mussel beds we have been seeing in the rias are made up of numerous heavy ropes that hang straight down in the water to which the mussels attach. The fishing boats go out to these beds and with their large cranes lift up these very heavily laden ropes. Equipment on board start the process of sorting them before bringing them in for market. Seeing all of these mussel farms Bob decided this would be the perfect place to have a meal of fresh mussels. Surprisingly he found out the restaurant didn’t have any!! Fortunately there was plenty of other excellent fresh seafood to choose from.
The 20 minute bus ride over to
The Rectangular Store House
This shows some of the Celtic settlement that was found in Vigo, Spain. The rectangular house would have been after the Roman conquest showing their influence on the structures. Bueu gave us a chance to see some of the countryside. We drove through beautiful forest of eucalyptus, fields of grapevines, and rolling hillsides. We noticed many small granite buildings that were up on stilt legs, with slotted sides and a cross on top. Many of the households had these built in their yards. Due to the cross on top we guessed they were a type of shrine, but when we asked we found they are called horreos. They are actually built for grain storage and are typical for this region (Galicia) of Spain. Traditionally they are made of granite, elevated on legs with rodent proof soffits, and timber or granite side panels. The roof is usually tiled and there is a small cross at one (and possibly) both ends. Access is gained by either, swing doors at the narrow ends, or the removal of the wooden side panels. As modern agricultural processes increased the need for these reduced significantly. They are still being built today however, as they are said to add value to a person’s property.
The woman at the tourist bureau informed us of a concert that was going to be held in Cangas. We got
Celtic Settlement
This shows an example of what the Celtic homes would have looked like. tickets to see a group called Sondeseu. This consisted of 40 musicians playing traditional Galician music, instruments include the harp, bagpipes, percussion, violins( fiddles), bass, guitars, bouzoukis, requintas, tamborines, hurdy-gurdies and vocals. An extra bonus was the traditional Galician dancing during the concert. The Celtic influence was obvious not only by the instruments used but also the type of music played. This group is local but is extremely well-known in this part of Spain. If you look up the name of the group on iTunes you will see that one of their first albums is there. We have posted two videos taken at this concert located at www.YouTube.com (search under Janice Waller to find it). It is interesting to see that one of the dances involves wearing wooden shoes which was quite a surprise as we are still in Spain!
We had more time to spend before good weather so we took the advice of others and caught a bus to Pontevedra and a train to Santiago de Compostela for an overnight stay to visit this very historic town. There is so much to tell and to show we will put this in a separate blog entry.
While
Proof Janice was there
Proof that Janice is on these trips as well – this is at the nicely laid out Celtic village exhibit. at the marina we saw a very active Nautico Club with kids and adults sailing, kayaking, canoeing and rowing. One of the reasons that sprint canoeing and kayaking is very popular is that two of the gold medal winners in the summer Olympics were from Cangas. One of them, David Cal won 5 gold medals and 4 silver for Spain while Carlos Perez won a gold. With role models like these two, the kids here are striving for their claim to fame too.
We met some wonderful people while staying in Cangas – Peter, another OCC member invited us over to his boat for drinks and provided us with some useful information on sailing in the Baltic; a Finnish family sailing the area for a few weeks; a lovely young couple that are hoping to do what we are doing in a few years and Dominic and Irene who invited us to coffee and introduced us to some of their friends. We definitely wish we were able to converse in Spanish beyond the very basic as there were many others including those helping us at the marina we would have liked to have gotten to know better.
Looking Up to See the Details
You always need to remember to look up to see many of the detailed carvings on the buildings located here. It was difficult to break away from the comfort of this pleasant town, but when the weather was predicted to be good for two days we took advantage of it and left with great memories of this area of Spain.
We are currently farther up the coast of Spain in a town called Camarinas. Before this blog entry gets any longer we will close for now and add photos from our trip up the coast in the future.
Again as always we wish you all health and happiness. Take care, Janice and Bob.
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Angelika
non-member comment
When I read your comment I get to know, that there are many parts of Europe, you know much better than me. Soon you will pass Bilbao. This is the town, where the daughter in law of the Luedke, our friends (you will meet again, when you will visit us )was raised. Love from Angelika