Vigo. gastronomy. tourism-trips.

Gastronomy

Leaving apart the topic of Galician cooking being essentially simple, mostly based on variegated products of the highest quality, and by no means in need of any more ornaments or seasoning, in Vigo it is possible for you to enjoy different types of gastronomies, intended for all kind of clients and budgets.

As Vigo is a major port, the local restaurants can offer dishes of the utmost quality, prepared with fish and seafood, according to traditional as well as international and more elaborated recipes.

Tourism-Trips h3. A journey southwards

Going southwards, you will reach Baiona A Real, a town of strong maritime tradition, the first one to know the news about the discovering of America. That date is yearly commemorated in the so-called Festa da Arribada. Baiona keeps the taste of a typical fishers’ town, with interesting old quarters.

From Baiona, to A Guarda. This village is situated in the mouth of the Minho River, and it is one of the major tourist resorts in Galicia. The Castro of Santa Trega, the main archaeological deposit in Galicia, overlooks the estuary.

Here, the Minho River is called A Porta (The Door), for this river connects two countries who are also brothers. An interesting journey through the cities along the Spanish and Portuguese riverbanks will take you from A Guarda to Caminha, from Goián to Vilanova de Cerveira, from Tui to Valença, from Salvaterra to Monção. Then you can imagine how complicated the relationships among neighbour countries may be, when there exist some conflicts concerning both politics and geography.

Direct connection to Portugal

The highway leads you to Tui, a border town that preserves its ancient walls and is a rival in beauty and state of preservation to Valença, its Portuguese homologous town.

Only at 150 km, following the highway, it is Porto, Portugal’s second major city. Porto is the financial and trading centre of the northern region of Portugal. The city shows a lively cultural life and many important places of interest (i.e. the Casa da Música or the Fundação Serralves), what has favoured the communications between Galicia and Portugal.

A journey northwards

The A-9 will lead you to Pontevedra. This city preserves one of the most interesting old quarters in Galicia. The vestiges of the Jacobean Way can be observed in the church of Santa Maria or in A Peregrina.

The Way ends at Santiago de Compostela, Patrimony of Humanity and the cultural capital of Galicia. A real cathedral by itself, this town is the paradigm of architectural harmony between the past and the present, and it has known well how to grow and to adapt to new conditions. Santiago is anything but a metropolis, but it owns a superb cultural wealth; the number of places of interest is high, so it would be desirable to have several days available in order to visit this town.

The A9 leads you to Corunna, the former capital of the Kingdom of Galicia and, presently, a major financial centre. Corunna’s urban area has spread, not without difficulties, over an unmerciful landscape, presided by the Hercules’s Tower, an old Roman lighthouse.

Nowadays, there is a pleasant walking promenade around the peninsula occupied by the city. Corunna’s Art Nouveau crystal balconies, Maria Pita Square, San Anton Castle or the above-mentioned tower are historical places worth visiting, as they are some interesting modern buildings, like the Domus.