(2016, back-posting from a blog move)
We were entering Vigo from the beachside town where all of those summering were still sleeping on an August morning (side note: I once read that you know you’re wealthy if you use “summer” as a verb—not so in Spain; everyone there “summers” somewhere, be it beach or countryside). Elena, calm and collected as always, was driving as Maro, my sister-in-law, excitedly pointed out the window realizing we were passing a newly completed mural she hadn’t seen yet. It was spear-headed by a group she is part of, Proyecto Ewa, that started out as an effort to bring poetry to the streets, but that is now initiating urban art projects as well. We debated for about about two seconds: should we stop? Yes, no, yes! Elena: “Here? Are you serious?” Granted, we were in a fairly run-down industrial zone of the city with very little pedestrian life, where most people who don't live there ever "go." Yes, here!
We paused to enjoy it, talking about how we loved that the boy was holding a heart full of plants. How a home is where we cultivate hearts and how neighborhoods house homes (i.e. good neighborhoods=priority for cities). The laundry swaying amid the diptych made for a nice mix of art and quotidian life. We decided to meander from there to the city center looking for other murals she knew that about tucked around the city.
From my sorrow I see it rise
the cloth of the Atlantic
do I cry an ocean of tears
or follow the line into the depth?
From the lookout point where the view is the art.
Vigo is a city with new things hatching all the time. Its industrial past had its boom, and bust. But today it seems bursting with potential for more cultural industry. And a city with sea that breathes into its very existence makes for a great place to live.
Not a mural but still urban art—gotta love that typography.
As we arrived in the center, a lunch rendezvous with Cris and Marta (more sisters-in-law) was the perfect way to top off the morning. Taberna a Mina was a mom-and-pop bar for decades in the city, now renewed by photographer Janite Lafuente et. company—cozy and hip addition to the ancient casco vello's windy streets. As Maro always puts it, “it’s like being at home.” We devoured mussles, nécora crabs, cheese with cured dock, tortilla, and a few free rounds since they take good care of their customers. All washed down with house-made vermouth Spanish style: straight, over ice with an orange slice and olive.