Tuesday, September 30, 2014 – Vigo

‏‎8:40 AM – Vigo: Hotel Vigo Plaza – our window with “ocean view” (focal length 24 mm).

‏‎8:41 AM – Vigo: Hotel Vigo Plaza – “ocean view” from our window (still 24 mm).

‏‎6:50 PM – Vigo: Hotel Vigo Plaza – “ocean view” from our window (telephoto, 46 mm); we could see only a sliver of the Ría de Vigo and a mountain on the other side of the bay.

8:32 AM – Vigo: Hotel Vigo Plaza – “ocean view” from our window (telephoto, 112 mm).

6:51 PM – Vigo: Hotel Vigo Plaza – “ocean view” from our window (telephoto, 260 mm); with this extreme telephoto, you could actually see part of the harbor.

We ate the (small) buffet breakfast (included) at Hotel Vigo Plaza: 2 orange juice; toast with ham (Don added cheese), some toast with marmalade; Don also had a bowl of mixed cereal with milk.

Just before 9 am, we started to walk toward the WeightWatchers place on Gran Vía, when we suddenly heard church bells. MT asked a lady, and she pointed up the street just in front of our hotel to the church one block away—Santuario Parroquia Santa María Auxiliadora [Our Lady of Perpetual Help]. We got to the church just in time for the 9 am mass; there were maybe a dozen women in the pews. It was a Salesian church, and after mass there was a special prayer (novena) to Don Bosco.

Santuario Parroquia Santa María Auxiliadora [Mary Help of Christians, Our Lady of Perpetual Help] is the Salesian shrine of Galicia, located in the street Ronda de Don Bosco, adjoining the colexio (college). The first Salesians came to Vigo in 1894, and the cornerstone for the present Gothic church was laid in 1923, but work progressed slowly due to lack of money; it was finally completed in 1943. It has altars of San Antonio (St. Anthony), Sacred Heart, Don Bosco, and San José el Viacrucis (St. Joseph the Viacrucis). The polychrome statue of Santa María Auxiliadora in the niche of the main altarpiece is the work of Salesian workshops.

4:19 PM – Vigo: view from Rúa Progreso by Hotel Vigo Plaza up street past Café Bar El Bandoneón to Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora.

4:10 PM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – side with entrance at left (there was no façade at the end of the church opposite the apse, which was to right).

‏‎4:14 PM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – two bronze heads by other door on that side; bronze plaque below read: “ ‘Luz y Camino’ Autor: Diego de Girá Idez, 17 Mayo 2010.” The heads may represent Mary as Our Lady of Perpetual Help and the Christ Child, with crowns, similar to the statue just inside this door (see below).

‏‎4:17 PM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – side with entrance (at rear of right side of nave) – view toward Calexón dos Salesianos.

4:12 PM– Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – end of church (opposite apse) from entrance to narrow Calexón dos Salesianos (calexón in Galego = callejón in Castilian Spanish means a narrow street, alley, or passage).

‏‎4:12 PM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – narrow Calexón dos Salesianos leading to end of church (opposite apse).

‏‎8:50 AM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – view from rear of nave to main altar.

‎Wednesday, ‎October ‎01, ‎2014, ‏‎8:42 AM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – main altar, view from rear of nave (telephoto 64 mm).

‎Wednesday, ‎October ‎01, ‎2014, 8:47 AM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora –main altar with statue of María Auxiliadora in center and man in business suit (a friend of Don Bosco) on left.

‎Wednesday, ‎October ‎01, ‎2014, 8:47 AM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora –statue of man in business suit with a halo (the priest said this was Santo Domingo Savio, a friend of Don Bosco) on left side of main altar.

Domenico Savio (aka Domingo Savio in Spain) was an Italian student of St. John Bosco (Don Bosco), who was studying to be a priest when he became ill and died at age 14. He was canonized in 1954. He is often pictured wearing a suit.

‏‎8:51 AM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – statue of San Nicolás de Bari at rear of nave.

8:51 AM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora - statue of San Nicolás de Bari at rear of nave (telephoto, 64-mm).

‎Wednesday, ‎October ‎01, ‎2014, 8:44 AM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – altar of Don Bosco on left side of nave, with statue of St. Francis de Sales at lower right.

Saint John Bosco (1815-1888), popularly known as Don Bosco, was an Italian Roman Catholic priest, educator, and writer. While working in Turin, where the population suffered the effects of industrialization and urbanization, he dedicated his life to the betterment and education of street children, juvenile delinquents, and other disadvantaged youth. A follower of the spirituality and philosophy of Saint Francis de Sales, Bosco dedicated his works to him when he founded the Salesians of Don Bosco (also known as the Salesian Society), based in Turin. He was canonized in 1934.

Wednesday, ‎October ‎01, ‎2014, 8:46 AM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – altar of Don Bosco on left side of nave (view from below, with statue of St Francis de Sales at lower right).

‏‎8:54 AM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora - statue of St. Francis de Sales at left front of nave, by altar of Don Bosco.

‏‎8:57 AM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – stained glass windows above crucifix on left side of nave (Santiago at top left).

‏‎8:58 AM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – stained glass window of Santiago Peregrino high on left rear side of nave.

8:59 AM – Vigo: Iglesia de Santa María Auxiliadora – statue of Santa María Auxiliadora [Our Lady of Perpetual Help] near entrance at right rear of nave.

We still got to the WeightWatchers (called “entulínea de WeightWatchers”) meeting place well before the 10:30 meeting time. We weighed in (Don weighed 68.3 kg [150.6 lbs], although he forgot to take off his neck pouch with passport, etc., which now seemed part of him. We had some time to talk with the leader, María Alonso Alonso, and she took several minutes at the start of the meeting to tell the rest of the ladies (6 or 7) about the American visitors and have them ask us questions. The ladies were impressed that MT had joined WeightWatchers in 1985 and was still attending meetings and weighing in. During the planned meeting (we understood most of it—about recipes, meal planning advice, etc.), there was a big debate about olive oil and just adding “a bit of olive oil” to things.

‏‎10:09 AM – Vigo: entulinea de WeightWatchers – storefront in interior mall (MT inside).

‏‎10:09 AM – Vigo: entulinea de WeightWatchers – WW products for sale.

‏‎10:10 AM – Vigo: entulinea de WeightWatchers – WW leader María Alonso Alonso with her “before” photo.

‏‎10:10 AM – Vigo: entulinea de WeightWatchers – room before meeting.

MT ‎‏‎10:12 AM – Vigo: entulinea de WeightWatchers – MT, María Alonso Alonso, and Don in meeting room.

MT 4:00 PM – Vigo: entulinea de WeightWatchers – “mi semana” (my week) WW weekly booklet.

After the WeightWatchers meeting, we bought (green) bananas at a frutería (fruit store) on Gran Via and took them back to Hotel Vigo Plaza, along with our WW stuff.

‏‎11:26 AM – Vigo: MT in frutería.

‏‎11:26 AM – Vigo: MT with bananas in frutería.

On the way to the hotel, we came to Praza España, with a roundabout where Rúa de Puerto Rico intersected Gran Vía. (We had seen the large statue there on our way from the airport to the hotel on Monday, but had taken no photos.)

The bronze statue, called Los Caballos (The Horses), represents a group of horses climbing up a waterfall. It weighs 40 tons and is 18 m tall, The base is complemented by a circular pool. It is a tribute to the wild horses that once populated the Monte Castro and currently still graze on some mountains of Vigo.

‏‎11:34 AM – Vigo: Los Caballos statue of horses on Praza España.

MT ‎11:46 AM – Vigo: MT and Smart Car with creative parking.

The hotel clerk told us where to find the Oficina de Turismo for more information on the old town. We tried first for the “Info” marked on our map at Praza do Rei, but it was no help. So we headed for the main Turismo near the transatlantic port. A helpful girl there gave us a good map and recommended two places to eat.

Then we decided to check (in the same building) on cruises to the Cies Islands. We found that they were supposed to have stopped on September 28 but were continuing a few days because of good weather. The cost was 16€ each, and they now had only one round trip a day departing at 11 am and returning at 6:45 pm. We said we would think about it, but then stopped to watch a video about Vigo and the Cies Islands. This caused us to go right back and buy tickets for Wednesday. We checked out Pier No. 3 for the next day’s departure and also saw the ocean liner/cruise ship Independence docked at the transatlantic port.

1:32 PM – Vigo: Ocean liner/cruise ship Independence with smaller cruise boat “Pirata de Onza” of the Naviera Nabia line (like the one we would take to Cies Islands).

Then we went to Gran Cervecería El Puerto [Grand Beer Saloon The Port], the older of the two restaurants recommended by the cruise clerk, and got their 12€ menu: 1st course: both had lentejas con chorizo [lentil soup with Chorizo sausage and other vegetables], but first the waiter brought us a medium-size salad to share (we later noticed that “ensalada de la casa” [house salad] was listed at the top of the menú del día, before the 1st course choices); 2nd course: both got bacalao con tomate [cod with tomato], with potatoes with red and green peppers in tomato sauce; dessert: MT melon (large piece)/Don tarta de Santiago; bread; 2 glasses of Ribiera red wine.

2:44 PM – Vigo: Gran Cervecería El Puerto – exterior, with our waiter in white shirt near door.

2:43 PM – Vigo: Gran Cervecería El Puerto - 12€ menú del día on chalk board.

‏‎2:10 PM – Vigo: Gran Cervecería El Puerto – MT with our bacalao con tomate, bread, and wine.

We tried to start the walking tour “Yesterday and Today in Old Vigo” listed in a guidebook we got at the Turismo.

On the way to the first stop on the tour, we passed the Don Quijote restaurant, which had 5 levels of platforms for outside seating on the sloping street Calle Laxe we were walking up. It looked like the wooden decks were not level, but it was probably an optical illusion.

‏‎2:57 PM – Vigo: Don Quijote restaurant with 5 levels of outside seating on sloping street on our way to St. Mary Collegiate Church.

2:57 PM – Vigo: Don Quijote restaurant – MT said the platforms were not on the level; Don took this photo to show the optical illusion.

The first stop on the tour was Igrexa Concatedral de Santa María.

‏‎3:01 PM – Vigo: Igrexa Concatedral de Santa María (St. Mary’s Collegiate Church) façade.

Igrexa Concatedral de Santa María (St. Mary’s Collegiate Church), in neoclassical style, was built between 1816 and 1839 over an older Gothic church. This is the most important church in Vigo. The main façade has a simple decoration with a clear and symmetrical composition. The central body ends in a wide cornice adorned with mútulas [mútulos in Castilian Spanish = square corbels carved beneath a Doric cornice] and straight profiles, with the whole surrounded by a triangular pediment. The lateral bodies are crowned by twin towers, more Baroque than the rest of the building. The church has a unique sundial on its right side, which curiously does not face south.

There are records of the existence of a church dedicated to Santa María in Vigo since at least the 12th century. That church was followed by another in the Gothic style, built in the late 14th century and completed in 1403. This new church preserved several chapels and transepts of the earlier one and was established as a collegiate church in 1497. That church was ransacked by the pirate Francis Drake in 1589, and numerous reforms were made in 1680. The present church replaced the old collegiate church after it was badly damaged in the explosion of a nearby powder magazine in 1809.

It is a concatedral since it shares the seat of the Diocese of Tui-Vigo with the cathedral of Tui (near the border with Portugal).

Next on the tour were the Casa de Arines and the adjacent Pazo de Figueroa, among the oldest buildings of Vigo, in Plaza de las Cebollas (Square of the Onions).

‏‎3:05 PM – Vigo: sign for Casa Torre de Pazos Figueroa (15th and 16th century) – in Galego, Spanish, and English; English part: “One of the oldest examples of fine architecture that remains in the city of Vigo, also known as ‘casa torre de Ceta e Arínes.’ It consists of two buildings: a sober late gothic tower and an elegant small palace in plateresque style. The palace has, in the jambs and lintel of the central span of the third floor, the characteristic plateresque ornamentation. On each side of that span, there is a Renaissance medallion. Another highlight on this floor is the prominent balcony and, on the second floor, the ogee arches. The complex was restored and currently houses the Camóes Institute. Since 1946 it has been considered a Historic-Artistic Monument.”

‏‎3:05 PM – Vigo: Casa de Arines and Pazo de Figueroa.

We only followed the tour route as far as the El Moderno building and the O Sireno (The Siren) sculpture in Porto do Sol square.

Porto do Sol is one of the busiest places in the city. The name comes from the fact that one of the five gates of the old city wall stood there. In the 19th century, it underwent a major transformation with the opening of the Rúa Elduayen.

MT ‎3:19 PM – Vigo: El Moderno.

El Moderno, designed in 1897, is an imposing building in the Eclectic style, where the influence of the Polish-born French architect Michel Pacewicz (1843-1921) is evident. It was promoted by Manuel Bárcena, a famed politician and businessman of the city. The Baroque-based ornamentation transforms the building into a real sculpture. The Eclectic period (1850-1910) was born in response to the rigid Neoclassicism and exhibited complete freedom regarding the use and combination of previous architectural trends. That period marked the economic boom and the transformation of Vigo from a small fishing village into a modern metropolis. It was a very important period for the city, which coincided with the emergence of a new middle class of business and industrial nature, which sought to show its prestige and social status in architecture.

‎Wednesday, ‎October ‎01, ‎2014, 9:45 AM – Vigo: sign for “Edificio ‘O Moderno’ ” (1897) in Galego, Spanish, and English; English part: “This building was called ‘The Modern’ because for many years it housed a famous hotel of this name. Its developer was Manuel Bárcena Franco, count of Torrecedeira, who started the building works in 1888 and finished them around 1902. The building is one of the emblematic pieces of the French style eclecticism that characterizes the urban expansion area of Vigo. It also reflects the influence of the Parisian architecture from the training period of the French architect Michel Pacewicz. The pompous character of the design is magnified by the excellent work of the local stone masters who carved in Galician hard granite an over-elaborate ornamentation of baroque and rococo inspiration. In the restoration of the 70’s decade, the system for the roofing and the bevel dome was altered, being originally of scales and rich chromatricity.”

3:15 PM – Vigo: Porto do Sol area – El Moderno on corner at left (Garcia Barbón Theater down that block right); O Sireno statue in square.

O Sireno (El Sireno, The Siren, The Merman) is Vigo’s monument par excellence. Located in the Porta do Sol, it is the symbol of modern Vigo; its style and the very high pedestal made of two granite columns on which it stands make it an impressive work of art. The sculpture was installed in 1991 and represents an imaginary character, a hybrid of fish and man. Since then, it has become one of Vigo’s most representative monuments due to its striking modernity and how it reflects the city it overlooks. The Sireno looks at the sea from the center of the city, and his expression is full of melancholy. The monument also shows the importance of the Atlantic to the city.

‏‎3:14 PM - Vigo: O Sireno (telephoto 76 mm).

‏‎3:16 PM - Vigo: O Sireno (telephoto 133 mm).

Wednesday, ‎October ‎01, ‎2014, 9:44 AM - Vigo: other side of O Sireno (telephoto 186 mm).

Up Rúa Policarpo Sanz to the east of Porto do Sol was the Teatro Garcia Barbón.

3:16 PM – Vigo: Teatro Garcia Barbón – view up Rúa Policarpo Sanz from Porto do Sol (telephoto 133 mm).

Teatro Garcia Barbón, a theater of Academicist Eclectic style, was built between 1913 and 1926. Its design was influenced by the Opera of Paris. It is named Garcia Barbón in honor of the philanthropist José Garcia Barbón who managed to keep the main theater of Vigo (Rosalia de Castro Theater, opened in 1900) standing. Before his stepping in, the theater had gone bankrupt and the building briefly became a store. After his death, that building caught fire in 1910, and his nieces decided to erect the current theater in his memory. This building is one of the most emblematic of the Vigo historic architecture, highlighted by excellent exterior stonework in white granite.

Vigo: Teatro Garcia Barbón – view from corner of Rúa Policarpo Sanz and Rúa Reconquista (Wikipedia).

After that, since we had left the old town for the newer part, we decided to leave the tour and look for the bus stop on Rúa Policarpo Sanz near there, where the hotel clerk had told us to go to catch the C9A bus to Hotel Avion by the airport after the cruise on October 1. We found it, although the schedule on the bus stop said L9A instead; busses run every half hour after 8 pm and take 30 minutes to the airport.

We went back to Hotel Vigo Plaza in 7 minutes to practice the route for after the cruise. Back at the hotel, we asked to make sure we could leave our backpacks there until Wednesday evening after the cruise.

We went to a grocery tienda and bought 4 yogurts (desnaturada) and a carton of gazpacho (3.39€) for a light “supper.”

Around 4 pm, we stopped at the El Bandoneón pizzeria and asked the owner if he had sangria. He didn’t, but he took us around the corner and up the Rúa María Auxiliadora in front of Hotel Vigo Plaza toward Iglesia de Santa Maria Auxiliadora to check out the Privé & Papé bar owned by the friend of his, which was on the corner across from the church. We just wanted sangria, so we sat outside on the terraza. Our sangrias were 2€ each, and he brought us sliced chorizo and bread cubes.

‏‎4:13 PM - Vigo: view back down street from Iglesia de Santa Maria Auxiliadora to Hotel Vigo Plaza; Privé & Papé bar on corner at left.

4:16 PM – Vigo: Privé & Papé bar on corner across from church (and view back to Hotel Vigo Plaza); we sat on the terraza, and the bar was actually around the corner on a lower street level of Rúa (or Calle) María Auxiliadora with only one low window facing the terraza.

Wednesday, ‎October ‎01, ‎2014, 8:39 AM - Vigo: low window of Privé & Papé bar above steps, facing the terraza; sign on corner says “Entrada Por C M^a Auxiliadora” [Entrance by way of María Auxiliadora street].

7:35 PM – Vigo: MT’s and Don’s shadows (projected by evening sun on building across street to east) while drinking sangria at a table with umbrella on the terraza of Privé & Papé bar.

4:17 PM – Vigo: small park with statue of Don Bosco across street from church and just left of Privé & Papé bar.