A beautiful sunset the night before arriving in Baiona
Following up from yesterday’s post, with the chute bag now firmly tied to the mast, after having lost about 3 hours at sea fighting with the sail and trying to send Jon up on a precarious mission, we finally gave up and started motoring into Baiona, our next port of call. The funny thing was that for all the time we gained under the speed of the cruising sail, we lost doing circles in the ocean trying to fix the mess we created. Oops. Ah well, such is life.
Me and the sunset - what a life
So Baiona, Spain. As we motored into the marina, we passed this amazing fortress on the outcrop. That was definitely beautiful and a site to see. However initially, on first glimpse, I didn’t think to much one way or another of the town. However with further investigation, I was pleasantly surprised. Baiona is a place I would love to come back to as we didn’t have nearly enough time to investigate it. It holds a special place in my memory too as I have some beautiful earrings from there.
It was cloudy and raining but this was the sight that met us as we sailed into Baiona
Anyway, I digress and have jumped ahead. Back to a little bit about Baiona. Once we got there and tied up the boat, we worked to bring the sailing chute down and to investigate the damage to the sail. Well over 20 tears in the sail that would have to be mended. Unfortunately it was not something we could do until we got back to England. So that put the sail out of commission with no further ability to use it on our journey. A bit of a drag since there ended up being a number of times when it would have been perfect to use. Oh well. No use crying over spilled milk.
A little closer view - it is hard to take good shots on a moving boat however - so this is the best I got
One thing that you really learn to appreciate once you get into a port of call, is the ability to have a proper shower. You can shower on the boat, but usually you are doing it at an angle or rocking with the waves (quite humorous actually – that would be something to film, but no film was made here) and you also have to be careful about water consumption. However, usually once we hit land, the guys were more eager to head to a pub for a pint than to shower – the pattern seemed to be that we would always say, well let’s just go for one pint and come back and clean up. But that never happened. One pint turned into 2 or 3 and then we would get hungry and well, you can figure the rest out. So showers generally waited until morning.
The motley crew wondering the streets of Baiona on a quiet Sunday morning
George had been to Baiona (also written Bayona) before so knew the best ‘haunts’ to go to. Behind the street bordering the ocean was this amazing pedestrian area, old and filled with all sorts of restaurants, shops and people. We hit the first pub for a beverage. Then moved to another pub since the restaurant we were thinking of eating at was not yet open. However, Jon and I were in need of a walk because too much beer on an empty stomach is not a good thing. So we left Danny and George at the place, and David came along with us, and we went for a stroll around Baiona.
"Hey David, whatja get?" - "Lookity this Jon, Look, Look ..." :o) They just make me laugh.
For a little bit of history, Baiona is a tourist town with a medieval historical centre. It has a population of just over 11,000. Other than tourism the major economic activities revolve around fishing.
In a centre square in town
It was founded in 140 BC. In 1201 King Alfonso IX of Leon granted the town a royal charter. In 1370, King Ferdinand I of Portugal, who was proclaimed King of Castile took up residence in the town and established his seat there until being forced to return to Portugal. In 1474, the Baiona was seized by Don Pedro Alvarez de Soutomaior, also known as Pedro Madruga, Count of Caminha. On March 1, 1493, the Pinta, one of the ships from Columbus’ voyage to discover the New World returned to Europe and arrived in Baiona, making the town’s port the first to receive news of the discovery of America. That’s pretty cool.
A little friend while having brunch
In 1585 the inhabitants of Baiona repelled an attempt to take the town by the privateerFrancis Drake. Five years later Philip II of Spain beat the pirates that were laying the Galician coast to waste with a fleet of 98 vessels and 17,000 soldiers.
The animated conversations - everyone just made me laugh all the time
On Jon, David’s and my stroll, we decided to walk around the 3 km of walls that surround the Monterreal Fort. It really was beautiful. I of course, being a little bit high energy, and having been stuck on a boat for 2 days, decided on the spur of the moment to go for a jog. My body was screaming for some activity that helps keep it running smoothly. So much to David’s amusement, off I ran around the Fort. I have to say, it is a good way to see a place in a shorter time frame, but not conducive to taking pictures. I am still awaiting copies of David’s pictures as he took a fair number and I am eager to see them. But for now, you will have to just enjoy mine.
Jon, just being Jon ...
Upon return to George and Danny, we headed to a restaurant where our waitress spoke no English, and was a bit of a sourpuss. Enough so that David actually left and we were down to 4 for dinner. It ended up being an early night for three of us anyway, as between early morning shifts, lack of sleep and a bit over enthusiastic imbibing, our bodies just said “enough”! Time to sleep.
JUST A VIDEO OF THE MOTLEY CREW AT BRUNCH
The next day, Sunday, after cleaning up, we unsuccessfully tried to find a supermarket to stock up on supplies. All we could find was this corner shop that had a bit of most things. The funniest thing about that place though was that of all things for it to have, it had two different types of blow-up dolls on the shelf behind the cashier. This served us up some humorous repartee. Really, of all things for a store to stock in a catholic town where most places are closed on a ‘holy’ Sunday, is to have blow-up dolls available. One was Asian and one was Caucasian. What a hoot. I was a bit disappointed however that this clearly was catering to the male population…! Where were the dolls for females!!??
David proudly posing with his amazing cod dish - it was yummy - melt in your mouth yummy
Finally, before heading out that day, as George was eager to get going, we stopped for a lovely brunch. The most memorable thing about that brunch was David’s meal – a cod dish. For that dish alone, I would come back to Baiona. I definitely suffered food envy. David was so kind as to let us all try a bit and it just melted in your mouth.
Flying away, as we were about to do.
Anyway, time to head off for the great crossing of the notorious Bay of Biscay – 3 – 4 days possibly with not sight of land. Goodbye Baiona and thanks for the memories.
The coastline leaving Baiona - beautiful ruggedness
what an absolutely thrilling time you are having – loving the pictures and all the history. Love you, Mum
Love you too Mum. Off to Albufeira on Sunday to do my Day Skipper practical – so more sailing – yeehaw.