Vigo Audioguides

More than 660 fishing vessels are registered in the Port of Vigo, which lands around 800,000 tonnes of fish per year and is the largest fishing port by volume in Europe. The fish market on the waterfront runs from the early hours of the morning, and the Berbés neighborhood beside the port, once the fishermen's quarter, retains an identity tied to the sea that is distinct from the commercial city above it. The freshness of the seafood in Vigo's restaurants is a direct consequence of having fishing boats back in port by noon.

The city occupies a hillside above the Ria de Vigo, a long estuary that opens to the Atlantic, sheltered enough to have attracted settlement since prehistory and deep enough for modern container ships.

Francis Drake attacked and burned the city in 1585 and again in 1589, a fact recorded with some pride in local history as evidence of Vigo's strategic importance when England and Spain were contending for Atlantic dominance. The Cies Islands at the mouth of the ria, accessible by ferry from the port in summer, form one of the most beautiful and strictly protected nature reserves in Spain.