A Baiona & Castro de Santa Trega

Yesterday we saw two more beautiful places in Galicia. First we went to the city of A Baiona. The coolest part of the city is the Parador which sits on top of a hill overlooking the outlet of Vigo Bay. From the top you can also see the Isles de Cies and the "Ria" leading into Vigo. The Isles de Cies supposedly have some of the most beautiful beaches in all of Europe. We're going to check them out and we'll let you know. The "Ria" is a river valley that has sunk and been flooded by the sea. The mix of fresh and salt water make the seafood here especially tasty. The Parador hotel has been built around an old fort once used to protect the city of Baiona from attack. You can walk all the way around the stone wall and see some spectacular views. A Baiona is the city where the first ship arrived in Europe to tell of Columbus's discovery of America. A replica of this ship, The Pinta, can be seen in the harbor.
After visiting Baiona we made our way along the coast to the city of A Guarda where the ancient ruins of the Castro de Santa Trega can be found. The Castro de Santa Trega ruins were only discovered in 1917 but have been around since about 200 BC. Only about 50% of the Castro has been excavated. The site sits on top of a mini mountain above the city of A Guarda. You can see some amazing panoramic views from up there - the people who built Castro de Santa Trega certainly knew how to pick a location with a view!
Archaeologists believe the Castro was probably built by Romans or the Celts. As you can see from the pictures the Castros are small round family dwellings made of stone. Here you can see a picture of what one may have looked like complete. The buildings are all very small, only 6 1/2 - 20 feet wide. Mike first described them to me as Smurf houses. That's really what they look like - maybe it's where the Smurf writers got their idea :) Not all the buildings were used as houses. Some are thought to have served as barns, warehouses, and factories. They all look sort of crammed together with no rhyme or reason to their layout but they actually were very well organized. The houses were built so that a large public patio could be utilized in the center.
3,000 - 5,000 people are thought to have lived in the settlement! No wonder the houses had to be so small, there wasn't enough room on the mountain top to make them bigger. We really enjoyed exploring the area, especially Jay who had a great time climbing over all the rocks.
Later that night we went to dinner at a really cool restaurant on the outskirts of the city. Our Spanish friends from Vigo brought us there. They have a little 4 year old girl and Jay had so much fun playing with her. She was so good with him! The Restaurant had a great park next to it and they played and played while we ate. It was so nice.

The following night our friends took us to another really cool restaurant with an outdoor patio where Jay and their girl could run around again. It's so nice having contacts up here who understand what it's like to have a little kid. Another American family from the embassy came with us too. We had a really fun time together. As usual the food was awesome. I've fallen in love with pimientos de padron. They're these little green peppers that are sautéed in olive oil and sprinkled with salt. Most of them are sweet peppers but they throw in a few spicy ones too. Yum! Have I mentioned I love the food up here? Here's a video of Jay playing with his new friend: