So it starts. A hiccup or two but we’ve left Vigo in search of Santiago.
The Way, ‘the Camino’ proper, was harder to find than expected, as was somewhere to find breakfast at 8am on a Spanish Sunday, but all this meant was more Galician help and hospitality. More colour to the Camino.
The octopus, ubiquitous Galician celebrity, seemed to be everywhere and without our little detour on the way out of the city we’d have missed Jules Verne (below) if not the pulpo-sympathetic street art opposite the cathedral.
The path itself took us from the Cathedral of Santa Maria in Vigo down to the waterfront and alongside the railway. Then taking a couple too many left turns we found ourselves in amongst the houses before heading out of town to the main roads. All this without a shell of an idea where to go. So much for a recce yesterday evening!
On the (our) route out of the city we the artwork brightened the morning too. This theme of cheering up urban concrete and screed seems to have taken off everywhere. Some with more style than others…
Once above the city and across the main roads the Camino took us at last to the wooded trail. Good to see a steady trickle of trekkers and the sign we’d been looking for.
The route on this first day took us through plenty of green countryside and stone-built villages, ending in the small town of Redondela with its overhead rail bridges and decorative formal parks contrasting the lives of those passing through and those living life at a slower pace. A good place to rest our weary feet.
International-Eyes.org 