Things To Do In Vigo

In all honesty, I have spoken very little about the places which you can see in Vigo, or about the things you can do outside of the city. More or less I never worry about what to do because I know I'll always be here, and that if one day I discover something, I will find time to go. In previous posts I spoke to you about some places and their history, but never about what you can do in these places on a dull afternoon.

I am going to give you a brief rundown on where to go depending on what you want to do.

Go Shopping

The truth is that, as a woman, when I say 'go shopping', I am referring to going shopping for an entire evening. I call shopping when I go out to buy clothes, makeup or anything which is useful for a night out (which perhaps is what interests us Erasmus girls the most).

So, if you want to spend an entire evening shopping without spending much, it's best to go into the city center. This is an area that is very close to the old town (casco vello in Galician), which I have written a blog post about before. Príncipe street has all sorts of shops: jewelry shops, evening wear, makeup stores, formal dresses; all this on Príncipe street.

This street is completely pedestrianised and commercialised, the shops are those of Inditex (Zara, Bershka, Stradivarius, Mango... ). All of these can be found there, for example Zara is located at the start and end of the street. This whole area is great for shopping, but it can be a bit inconvenient if it rains, as there are no covered areas unless you move from shop to shop with an umbrella, rainjacket and all.

The city centre

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In addition to this, as it's all pedestrianised, it is quite difficult to park your car, but the Castro Fort is "nearby" (I have also made a blog post about this place) where you can park, and from there walk. To re-iterate, this is the perfect place to meet up on days when it's not raining and the streets are pleasant, it is always a real pain to have to enter the shops and then remove twenty thousand layers of clothing (I know, I am exaggerating, but I think we've all felt the discomfort of carrying our clothes). Returning to the theme of parking, there are also some spaces in the vicinity, but being in the center do not expect it to be very cheap, and more so if you are intending to spend the entire afternoon there.

In the event of rain, the more sensible shopping option is the Gran Vía shopping center; I have also spoken about it in another blog entry in which I compared it to the other shopping centres in the city. As I said, it is a shopping centre with a fair amount of shops, but the variation is less than that in the city center, in particular if you want to go shopping for branded items or to some particular shops. The good thing is that this shopping center has a car park and is a lot more straight-forward. The downside is that on rainy days it can get quite busy which makes it a bit stressful going from shop to shop. The shops are les varied and, for the most part, are smaller than those in the city center.

Gran Vía shopping centre

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Another advantage of going shopping in the center, on Príncipe street, is that there is an El Corte Inglés, and you'll find that there they have a lot of variety, not only when it comes to clothing, but also DVDs, food, shoes, sporting items, or any other thing which we need to carry out an activity. El Corte Inglés is open from nine in the morning (9:00) until nine at night (21:00) so you can spend an entire day inside there, although perhaps that is a little crazy. For me personally, it's a place which has never appealed to me much when it comes to buying things, and I prefer to go outside when I go from shop to shop.

El Corte Ingles in Vigo

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Another one of these places, which is less important than the two I have already talked about, is the Travesía shopping center, which I have not spoken about but will in future blog posts. It's not as big as the Gran Vía shopping center, neither has it got as much variety as it, but if your flat or residence is situated in this area, it will be more convenient you go shopping here than elsewhere, like Gran Vía. As a general summary, we can say that the place you choose to go shopping and spend an entire afternoon depends on two things: how much time you have on the day, and the location of your house/residence.

The Travesía shopping centre

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To reiterate:

• If you live in town center, go for Príncipe street.
• If you live on the outskirts, go to the Travesía shopping centre.
• If you live in the coastal area, (Coya, Torrecedeira... ), go to the Gran Vía shopping centre.

Go for a walk

It's true what people say, Vigo is the perfect city to go for a walk, as long as the weather is co-operating. If you are lucky enough to visit our lands during the summer, I advise you to go for a night-time walk, as this is a great experience.

The most appealing walks for Vigo locals are:

• Samil beach (of which I have included a photo of from my walk the other day)
• Castro park (I have done a blog post about it)
• City centre (where you can find the shops, but on a different street)
• Bouzas walk

Samil Beach is the perfect place to go as soon as a tiny ray of sun appears, but you can never stay long as it gets dark earlier, as soon as the sun goes down, and it starts to make you freezing cold. It faces out onto the open sea (although the Cies Islands do hide it from view a little), and as there is no sun it starts to become a bit of an unpleasant walk, even as you're walking you can see people inside the cars in the free car parking which is right next to the footpath, this is very amusing because everyone likes to go to the beach and see the sea, but then the cold is another story. Sure, you can undoubtedly spend two or three hours walking around Samil, back and forth, back and forth until you get tired, but it's better to bring some company so you don't get bored.

Samil beach by day

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Samil Beach

Another thing I personally enjoy is the Bouzas trail. In recent years they have fixed it up a lot, they have even made a bike-friendly path, so it is perfectly designed for people to wander around. It's a walk that begins next to the Municipal Pavilion Bouzas and ends after circling the space used by Citroen to 'guard' cars soon to be transported by lorry or boat to someplace else. It sticks close by to the coastline, and in some areas, there is a small wall of rocks before the sea. It is quite nice to sit around and appreciate the sea views, especially for people coming from an inland area, where they do not have this luxury. The Bouzas walk is fairly long, I do not know exactly how many meters or kilometers but it's an enjoyable walk.

The Bouzas walk has sea views

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In addition to this, statues have now been positioned alongside the path, of fish which can be found in the Baixas rivers (sardines, mussels... ), along with a plaque that tells us what kind of fish they are, their scientific name... all these facts are put on the statues' plaques. From the last part of the walk you can see all the boats that pass through our estuary, and die of the envy at the sight of them.

A statue along the walk

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The walk

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And to finish off, the last walk is that through Castro park, where you pass by the castle, where you can see the old radio antenna or take in the incredible views of the whole city (Rande bridge, the port, the city centre, Xeral hospital... ). You should take care when you get to this point, as there are some old roads that do not lead anywhere and you will feel tremendously foolish if you try to follow them.

Castro Park

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Castro Park has sea views

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In this area we also find an area that is great for teaching about how the settlers lived, since some parts of their settlements have been preserved - pass by them, because it is interesting to have a change of scenery during the walk. Whilst following this trail, you can also pass through a park, although it's a kids park for children younger then twelve or fourteen, to an adult such as myself (although, I am still a child at heart), it's fantastic. It has an elastic jumping mat, but be careful because if you weigh a lot you may end up hitting the bottom, at the end of the day it is a park made for young children. In addition to this, it also has a swing of sorts that you can lie down in, and us adults love to throw ourselves in there and use it as a hammock. It actually is made very differently (a bar to maintain foot balance for example) to the majority of play parks so it's quite fun for older people to use.

You can see where the settlers lived

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Where to go Food Shopping

I am going to tell you about the main supermarkets for each area more of less, but I imagine that you will end up doing your own investigation about the quality of the products which you like, the prices, the distance from your house/residence... The supermarkets with the most variety in my opinion are:

• Alcampo
• Eroski
• Carrefour
• Mercadona

These four supermarkets can be found in various neighbourhooods, as follows:

Alcampo supermarkets can be found on Madrid avenue, pretty close to many different residences, buildings, houses or other accommodation. This supermarket will be ideal for you if you're studying teaching at the private school (although as far as I am aware, you can't go to this school on Erasmus), as it is just next to it. However, there is also another Alcampo in the Coia neighbourhood which is more used by general members of the public for when the want to go for a big shop.

Alcampo supermarket

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Eroski supermarkets can be found in every corner of the city, they're not as big as other supermarkets such as Carrefour or Alcampo, but the prices are low and the products are of good quality

Carrefour can be found in the two shopping centers which I spoke to you about before; Travesía shopping centre and Gran Vía shopping centre, and is somewhat similar to Alcampo supermarket, both in terms of price and quality - but it may even be better because the Gran Vía area is usually where the majority of students reside.

And lastly we have Mercadona, one of my favourites, mostly for its cereals. It's especially great for those with an intolerance to gluten, as they have a lot of product variation and I believe it is quite a lot cheaper than the other supermarkets. This supermarket is really good when it comes to cosmetics and above all, creams. This is the supermarket which could be said as the most 'fashionable' of them all, as new one has opened on Madrid avenue.

The supermarkets which can be found here are more catered for people who come by car, because walking here to do your shopping will end up being a pain in the ass when it comes to carrying the bags back to your house. There are two or three other Mercadona supermarkets: one on Florida avenue, very close to Plaza América (the one with the horses), which can be found inside the fish market, and another nearby to the centre but not in the commercial zone, further out.

The horses

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In Conclusion...

So, these are the things which I deem the most important. One day I will speak more about leisure activities in Vigo, such as restaurants, gaming rooms, places to partake in sports and other things which cross my mind. I hope that this was useful for you, and enjoy this city, which is open to a wealth of possibilities, not like me in the boring city of Usti Nad Labem.

There are more leisure activities in Vigo

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