We left Pontevedra with a stiff breeze on the stern on 29 Dec 2019 and sailed one Ria further South. We dropped anchor in the lee of Isla de Toralla to be greeted the next morning by the locals, fishing for shell-fish.
Since we would travel to NL in January to celebrate the 90th birthday of Frits’ father we had to find a secure marina to protect the boat against the winter storms during our two week absence.
Vigo is an industrial city, only recently developed in the 20th century and therefore short of monuments. During the Iron Age (900BC – 100AD) the hillside surrounding the ria’s (fjords) where doted with “Castros” (hill-forts)
To protect Vigo against the continuous raids of the Portuguese and their British allies a fortress was built on top of the hill in 1665.
The cities defences proved inadequate and Vigo was looted again in 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession. More about that war in the chapter about Gibraltar.
We planned to celebrate New-Years eve in Vigo, known for its vibrant nightlife. That turned out to be a bit of a bummer. It proved almost impossible to find a restaurant or tapas bar that was open. After roaming the streets for an hour we finally found a simple place to eat. After finishing our meal and heading back to the city center it turned out that ALL, no-kidding, ALL bars were closed. New year is clearly a family affair.
We traveled to the Netherlands first week of Jan 2020 to celebrate the 90th birthday of Frits’ father.
After returning to Ria Vigo we visited Baiona, a village at the Southern entrance of the Ria. On 01 March 1493, the caravel “Pinta” docked in Baiona, an important trading port at the time. It brought the news that Columbus had made it “to the Indies”. Columbus himself arrived 3 days later in Lisboa.
La Pinta was the fastest of the three ships used by Christopher Columbus in his first atlantic crossing in 1492. The small size of the ships, made is difficult for Columbus to recruit crew and a small number of them were prisoners given a lighter sentence if they would sail with Columbus.
The caravel was developed around 1450 by the Portuguese under the direction of “Henri the Navigator” who required a lighter and better manoeuvrable ship to explore the rivers and the West-coast of Africa. Due to its Lateen triangular sails the caravel was able to sail closer to the wind and was faster than the traditional Mediterranean ships of that time. It was the caravel that gave the Portuguese the edge on transoceanic exploration.
We were soon headed to Portugal but take this opportunity to thank Paul & Jenny Davies, owner of a beautifull replica of a wooden 59′ Starling Burgess schooner, moored next to us, for showing us their boat, for the drinks and the pleasant conversations.
