The last Spanish stop on this cruise was in Vigo, no I’d never heard of it either. The more cruises you do the more this becomes an issue. Once you have done Barcelona, Rome, Athens, Dubrovnik etc you are left with the likes of Lugo and Vigo. Not that there’s anything wrong with that at all, but they offer less sights and are over quicker.
Top of the Hill
The top sight in Vigo is the castle, which is atop a small hill reached up some steep steps and hills. When we arrived it Vigo it was raining but by the time we’d set off for the castle it had brightened up and by the time we’d reached the top we were beginning to regret not bringing our sun hats.
The castle offered almost 360 degree views over the town and the sea beyond and given that the sun had come out, it was a great view. There was also a small display of all the English ships that had been sunk nearby but we ignored that!
That done we walked back down and headed to the nearest ALE-HOP to buy some tat!
A Long Time Away from Home
The cruise ship we are on is big – it can accommodate up to 6,685 passengers and has a crew of 1,782. The crew includes everyone from the captain to the entertainment staff to those working in the many restaurants.
It’s a hard life for those working here as they do a six month stint and then get two months off. As many of these workers are sourced from the Far East they don’t have the necessary visas to leave the ship and so are effectively trapped onboard for the duration. They work 11 hour days serving and remain happy and cheerful throughout if any of the interactions we’ve had are a guide. The only negative the waiter we were chatting to seemed to have was that the food they are served wasn’t spicy enough for him and so his Mum packs him off from Bali with a sachet of spices which he adds to everything!
