Bisou de partout: Baiona (42 ° 07’N 08 ° 50’ W)

For the first time in over two weeks we saw rain clouds on waking. Although it didn’t rain much, we had a bit of a downpour while walking back from the Old Town in Baiona.

The tourist information booth near the marina was very helpful with a map and a walking guide for various places of historical interest including one of the Old Town so off we set. The town/city has been well-preserved with the narrow streets, stone buildings and everything very neat and tidy. Certainly not the plethora of ‘eateries’ that we encountered in A Coruña but plenty of restaurants around every corner if you cared to have something to eat. The prices, being a tourist destination, were a good deal higher, however, with seafood and fish being at a premium. We were glad that we ate as well and as cheaply as we did in A Coruña.

One of the things that strikes you in Europe is the sheer antiquity of the buildings – coming from a relatively ‘new’ country like Australia, where we think that cities and buildings from the 1800s are a big deal, it is quite sobering to look at churches and other buildings constructed in the 12^th – 15^th centuries still standing and functional. Of course in many cases ‘renovations’ have occurred in more ‘recent’ times as late as the 18^th century, but it is still mind-boggling to contemplate people working stone to the extent that they did with hand tools only.

The other thing that we remarked was the proliferation of churches and chapels – they are everywhere! It’s hard to believe that there were enough people in the town to fill all these places and certainly today many of them are closed except on specific feast days or special occasions like Easter/ Christmas.

In contrast to the other towns we have been in so far, Baiona is quite hilly. We did not take our bikes off the boat here for a couple of reasons: firstly, the way we were berthed in the marina took some serious climbing skills to get on and off the boat from the bow, and secondly, we felt that we could pretty easily walk where we wanted to.

We were not tempted to visit the many beaches in the area due to the weather, however on the second afternoon we decided to take the dinghy to the nearest beach, somewhat protected from the wind by the Parador (fortress) overlooking the town. We did have a couple of hours of glorious sunshine and it actually got quite hot which was a real treat. The water temperature remains cool though so other than a walk at the water’s edge to get in and out of the dinghy, we didn’t venture in for a swim (unlike the locals who frolicked happily in the water playing ball and swimming laps across the beach!).

The walk around the parador is quite remarkable and the hotel (paradores) situated at the top is lovely with spectacular views. Again, it is mind-boggling to think that this fortress has been here for 500 or 600 years and that battles were fought here over the ages. Apparently it is has been a fortress since Roman times.

Our final afternoon in Baiona, we met another Aussie family from Fremantle, aboard a Dufour 40 “Songbird”; Shariane, Stuart and their son Jack were following the same route as we are and we joined them for a farewell drink in the members’ restaurant on our last evening, promising to catch up further south or in the Mediterranean (well, we have to as we owe them a drink!).

It’s difficult going to bed when it’s still light out – even at 10:30pm but we needed to get a good night’s sleep before another dawn departure the next day.