Galicia Palace Pontevedra

... other than from the coach that took us on our tour. As we left Vigo heading north along a motorway, I realized how green everywhere was compared to when we went to Rojales and the South East of Spain last year. It reminded us both of the Lake District in Cumbria.

Today I´m headed for Vigo on the Northwest coast. Madrid has been good although tiring. It rained yesterday so I spent the afternoon at the Prado Museum. After that I walked forever, took a few pictures and ate some ice cream. If you´re ever in Madrid I recomend the Museo del Jamon, ham and cheese sandwich + beer = 2euros.

... you arrive at the city center. The only thing going for it is the view of the city, especially at night.

In the afternoon we went to the top of the Castillo de El Castro that has excellent views of the city by and harbor below. For lunch we bought oysters from a street vendor and then took them to a bar nearby where we ate the oysters with Lemon and drinks. Vigo, although larger than many of the neighboring towns is a much laid back ...

Today our port of call was Vigo, Spain. It is in the Galicia region (northwest) and it is quite beautiful. It rains there a lot, but we had a beautiful sunny day. We had hired a guide to show us the area. The highlight of the day for me was going to a castle. It was amazing… both the building and the ...

... wealthy where all there old buildings have been lovingly preserved. Then on to Leon, quite a big city and on to Astorga, where we by chance found a Gaudi building, there was also a bull ring next to our free camp spot, . I guess its only open at the weekend which is a shame as I would have like to have gone, not sure if Sharon approves being a veggie, though she tells me they don't kill the bull in Portugal so maybe there will be a chance to go there. In ...

On this last day it decided to rain, since Galicia is the wettest province in Spain I am glad the rain stayed away for most of the trip.  We spent the day visiting family and doing last minute errands (like mailing postcards).  We also had the best meal of the trip Jo's famous chicken and little potatoes.

... is where people from Spain travel to buy towels (not sure why but they did have lots of towels for sale) and Em & Eric did get a set just to follow the tradition.  Tui was a much nicer place and the cathedral was lovely. On the way home we stopped in Baiona an old port city with a cool old fort.  We took the walk along the top of the walls (a 3 km walk).

We stayed in the home area today.  We went to the museum in the church Santa Maria a Nova (the new Saint Maria church, it's only from 1327).  The museum houses several older gravemarkers showing the different types of markings found.  We also walked the new boardwalk area and saw the rides that are getting ready to be set up for the Fiesta that starts Friday.   We came back to PortoSin to walk along the beach and soak up the fresh air and sun.

... fires a few years ago and now the mountain tops are covered with Xesea & Toxo both are beautiful yellow flowered shrub yellow the Toxo is prickly like barberry.  We drove back along the tops of the hills so we could get a better view of the windmills.  Spain has a higher percent of their energy from wind power than any other country in the world.  

... falls." Em's response "Pansies. I did that clim b in clogs- with kitten heals." The walk was beautiful and well worth any danger that may have existed, the path was not bad today.  There were some spots as we were walking back that were challenging, but using our butts to slow our slide down the rocks worked well. There were several small lizards about and one that was about a foot long from nose to tail.