Pazo Los Escudos Hotel and Spa Vigo

... beach. We definitely had chosen the wrong day to surf here; tide going out, steep beach! Nevertheless, there are always other beaches and it was back up the coast to Fao, where Lym (Annabelle was a little chilly) once again donned his suit and out he went. Lo and behold, was up on the first wave, and the second, the third.... Following a meal of barbecued chicken risotto ...

... 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.

... clean and prep the yacht after arrival in port. Out Captain is very good about getting everyone to work together to complete all the tasks at hand and to avoid a lone steward from being stuck in the laundry room for 18 hours in one day while the deck hands are off work and playing by 2 in the afternoon.

For dinner we ate Tapas in the city as well and returned to the yacht around midnight. We departed for Porto, Portugal a few hours later.

... We also had lunch at a very nice fishing village. It is not a surprise that seafood is popular… some of the local favorites are mussels and octopus. …and of course they make a lot of wine, and we sampled some that was delicious. The end of our day was spent exploring Vigo’s old gothic quarter.

... Like all the towns up and down this coast, Baiona is a great place for seafood restaurants, and we decided to splash out for once. (Our usual lunch is bread and cheese, if in the caravan, or a sandwich if we're out.) We struggled with the menu, and the waiter didn't speak English, so we settled for a mixed seafood platter and wondered what would come. It was a huge plateful of things with shells, claws, feelers ...

... 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 ...

... 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).

... lunch each day, I would often walk around town going to anything different. I went to various parks, various monuments, but most of all I went to all the different places to shop. There would always be something new in a store. I could go back every once in a while. I quickly remembered Camelias, Urzáiz, Gran Via, El Corte Inglés y todo así. In the morning my Spanish host mother picked me up from the train station ...

... The train was leaving from platform #1 in 5 minutes. I had no time to grab breakfast or even a drink - I just hobbled (well I was trying to run, but it looked more like hobbling with a large backback) as fast as I could to the train. There were no vending machines on this train, so I figured I would just try and sleep through my hunger... I woke up at 10.40am about 5 minutes before we arrived at Porto. That was easy.