Thursday 13 September 2018

A Visit in Vigo

Our first sea day was pretty rocky. Although we were supposed to avoid the Bay of Biscay, I suspect we didn't sail too far around the bay. We experienced pretty rough seas going down from Southampton to Vigo. The Bay of Biscay is known for its rough waters and intense storms. The ship was pretty empty for the day, and it was too misty to go out on the deck. Since not much was going on around the ship, so we rested up. We did manage to get dinner in the dining room at our newly assigned table. Dinner was enjoyable!




We visited the Windjammer right before the show for a snack and discovered another great thing: it was stocked with exotic fruits! We enjoyed rambutans and dragonfruit almost every day. There were also a lot of evening activities on the ship. We're always happy to see a large number of musical performances! On the first day, we watched the cast perform Abba's greatest hits. We returned to our cabin to find a towel animal waiting for us.


We visited Vigo on a Sunday. Vigo is definitely a cruise port with a large marina and a big mall waiting for you once you get off the boat. However, most of the mall was vacant. But because it was a Sunday, everything else (shops and restaurants) was also closed.


Vigo had a lot of cobblestone and Romanesque architecture. We had planned to walk to the the Castro fortress but because everything was closed, there were not a lot of people around. The path seemed like a road less travelled and very steep. We were heading into a more residential area, we decided against wandering off and stayed in the town centre. There was protest that day, which was why the town centre was so busy. Vigo also had a lot of sculptures and street art. There is a park facing the ship along the pier. A great place to sit and enjoy the sea breeze.



We grabbed lunch at a local restaurant, Taberna A Pedra. The food was so delicious but there was a language barrier and we had a little trouble ordering off the Galician menu! We ordered fresh scallops, octopus tentacles and padron peppers. Padron peppers are small, mild green peppers. Eating a plate is kinda like playing Russian roulette. Theres always a few spicy ones on the plate. Funny story, we didn't finish the peppers, so I tried to bring them back onboard. My peppers made it through security but when the crew member who scanned my SeaPass saw my container, he asked me to throw it out. I was not about to waste half a plate of green peppers, so I ended up eating a box of peppers in front of him. :)



Here we are sailing away from Vigo... We stayed up on deck for sail away. The sun was setting as we headed in for dinner.

Dinner that evening...



I didn't find dinner to be anything special that evening, especially not after our meal in Vigo! I ordered the gyoza dish (not pictured) but I'm pretty sure it came out of a freezer. The ceviche was not very authentic. Dessert was just okay. The performance that evening was Soul Satisfaction, a Motown show.

Our next port is Lisbon, Portugal, one of my favourite ports on this cruise! We had a full day in Lisbon and an amazing time. Stay tuned!