Vigo is Well Worth A Visit by Stephen Stewart

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Vigo is Well Worth A Visit
by Stephen Stewart

Galicia in particular and Northern Spain in general have long been considered to be a hidden jewel in the entire Spanish tourist industry and hidden away within Galicia itself are some further jewels and we are going to examine Vigo further.

If you look at all of the autonomous regions that make up modern day Spain, Galicia has to be the most remote and hidden away within that remoteness lies Vigo.

Historically, always classed as the poorer cousin to some of the other richer regions Galicia had an economy that did not easily lend itself to modernisation and herein lies a paradox in that it is this very reluctance to embrace modernity throughout that gives the region much of its appeal as far as tourism is concerned.

The natives of Galicia if you trace them back far enough have origins very similar to their Celtic cousins in the north and are justifiably proud of their language and culture and these connections no matter how stretched or tenuous give them their sense of regionalism and uniqueness.

Galicia always seemed to be a very closed and inward looking area being fiercely resistant to any formal external invasion and in many ways this degree of isolation was very much driven by the geographical location of the region.

Slowly but surely in the 20th century, Galicia began to develop and today traditional lifestyles rub shoulders with modernity throughout the region whilst at the same time the region has lost none of its more traditional culture and within the tourism economy this is starting to show real benefits.

Vigo is the largest city in Galicia and is located on the western coast south of Pontevedra and west of Ourense. Vigo is immensely important with regards to the Spanish fishing industry and alongside Coruna is home to an industry that employs some 61,000 fishermen and 16,000 boats.

Vigo is a city that displays a rather remarkable and healthy geographical and sociological schizophrenia in that it very much falls into two halves. You have the old part of the town which is very much a working port, very down to earth and full of traffic problems, urban decay, poverty are all present and evident all over the place. However to counter this there are still memories of a golden heritage as an important port full of passengers all bound for London, South America and other parts of the New World. You have architecture and buildings that have obviously seen better days and down in the harbour you'll find fresh seafood available that is as good as any you'll find anywhere else in Europe. Contrast this with the new part of town around the Marina which is full of trendy restaurants and cafés and the difference is remarkable and you could very much think to yourself that you had possibly just walked into some extremely rare Space Time zone!

Vigo as a town is centred round a natural harbour and has existed for centuries. The harbour as we know it had been used by Phoenician and Celtic sailors long before the city as we know it was settled by the Romans. As a city Vigo’s fortunes have waxed and waned to a variety of degrees depending on what was happening at the time, ranging from rapid expansion during the 18th and 19th centuries and corresponding stagnation during the “Franco years” when Spain as a whole became rather insular and isolationist.

A city very much full of contrast and another place are well worth a visit.

Author's Biography:

Stephen Stewart writes about a great many Internet Travel based issues and more on the above can be found at

Posted on: October 20,2007

Email: stephen.freelancearticles@googlemail.com
Website: http://www.wordsthatwork.name