Vigo vs. A Coruna
HERITAGE
1. Monuments. There is a luminary, never better said, that tips the balance for Coruna : the Tower of Hercules it is the oldest working lighthouse in the world and is justifiably included in the UNESCO World Heritage list. La Coru opens the scoring.
2.When speaking of assets of cultural interest, Coruña has, in addition to the Tower of Hercules, 14 monuments , like the ruins of the convent of San Francisco , the houses of Paredes or the archive of the Kingdom of Galicia . In Vigo there are 15, like the Pazo of Santo Tome , the house with shields in the rúa do Triunfo and several archaeological zones with cave engravings and megaliths. Technical tie.
Maria Pita Square
3. Churches. If Vigo has the collegiate church of Saint Mary of Vigo , Coruña strikes back with the collegiate church of Santa Maria do Campo . But since the latter also has constructions of artistic value such as the Church of Santiago and San Xurxo, win this round.
Four. One is stately and diffuse, another chaotic and popular. The Old Town of Coruña, with its iconic white galleries and arcades and the striking City Hall building, is more recognizable than that of Vigo, although beware, in recent years it has undergone a facelift and a fine-tuning of its cochambre that make him worthy of a good visit. Going through both means seeing the two faces of industrious/bourgeois Galicia in which the relationship with the sea shaped the city in two different ways. Coruña wins but only by half a point.
5. There is no city worth its salt without its Contemporary Art Museum , which have become what they were in the 19th century fine arts museums . Coruña and Vigo could not be less and they have both: the Museum of Fine Arts and the MAC the first and the Quiñones de León Museum and the MARCO the second. Vigo is joined by the unusual Verbum (House of Words) on language, the Museo do Mar or the Casa de las Artes with the Laxeiro Foundation. But Coruña fights back with the Picasso house-museum, the DOMUS (perfect for children), the Aquarium or House of Fish, the House of Sciences or the MUNCYT (National Museum of Science and Technology). Point for Coruna.
DOMUS, one of the most interactive museums in Spain
6. In placid terminology there is little doubt: the monumentality of Mary Pita devastates the populous and flirtatious Sun Gate either Constitution Plaza viguesas, and the Santa Barbara Square de Coruña is like a piece of medieval preserved in formalin.
7. In seeking to make an urban journey through the centuries, Coruña goes far back with the Castro of Elvina , where all the students of Galician archeology . Although the convention says that the history of Vigo began to emerge much, much later, Monte do Castro is not called that by chance and in Toralla Island we have Finca Mirambell, the remains of a Roman villa, as proof that the past is always much further away than we think. Of course, in Roman architecture the tower of Hercules it continues to be an example of what titans they were in terms of public works. In Coruña not everything is galleries; It also offers buildings that are examples of modernist architecture, such as the Kiosk Alfonso or the Golden Tooth. And in contemporary architecture, which is why the faculty is there, stands out among other constructions the DOMUS designed by Arata Isozaki and Cesar Portela.
The disorderly growth of Vigo, without a clear urban plan, created one of the most chaotic cities in Galicia but at the same time it managed to survive the spirit of neighborhoods such as Lavadores or Bouzas . The failure of the Palacios plan -which precisely would have ruined those areas- has been extensively studied and although it was never put into practice, there are creations by the architect such as the Monastery of the Visitation of the Royal Salesas, in Teis. Vigo, with its slopes and its fame as the ugliest city in Galicia, requires knowing how to look beyond what is traditionally considered "beautiful". On the street Garcia Barbon there are what are probably the most spectacular nineteenth-century civil buildings in Galicia, and in O Berbés we still find some seafaring houses that survive among empty lots and perpetual works. The sculptural eagerness that filled Vigo in the 90s left us one of those sculptures always present in the galleries of "the ugliest monuments in Spain", the Sireno, but recent years have bequeathed us the statue to Jules Verne and his 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea in which the city was named and which already seems to be an unofficial symbol of the city, [the Dinoseto
'Dinosaur' presiding over the Porta do Sol
NATURE
8. When talking about beaches, Coruña is a benchmark in the charm of urban beaches. Riazor and Orzán, As Lapas and San Amaro They are the very practical options of the Coruñeses to expand. But in the urban center of Vigo there are more than twenty beaches for all tastes, from the "urbanized" Samil to the almost rural Or Adro in Bouzas , from the semi-wild O Vao to Toralla Island Beach which can only be accessed on foot (unless you are one of the exclusive inhabitants of the island). and Cies . Win Vigo.
9. Mountain. There is a factor against which it is impossible to fight: the Cíes Islands are part of the Parque Nacional das Illas Atlánticas , and the possibility of hiking through them provides one of those collections of visual postcards that find little parallel.
This photo of the Cíes Islands is more reminiscent of Altojardín, isn't it?
10. As we are in Galicia, we must include a category of thermalism, spas and everything related to the noble art of soaking as therapy and vital plan. Coruña is once again somewhat marked by the presence of Termaria, the House of Water, a thalassotherapy super center of those in which to stay to live.
eleven. Ah, the urban parks and their collection of joggers, dog walkers and families seeking shade on Sundays. A Coruña shows its chest with its 13 kilometers from the beautiful promenade , the largest in Europe, which can also be explored by bicycle. Also noteworthy is the melancholic garden of San Carlos where the tomb of John Moore that brings us the memory of the War of Independence, and the crowded Monte San Pedro. For its part, Vigo has fully O Castro town center , the Guia viewpoint and the Saiáns and Bemvibre parks , as well as a "blue path" that invites you to explore the city's seafront from Toralla to Bouzas. Parquet tie.
Find peace in Termaria, the House of Water
LEISURE
12. If Coruña has the Teatro Colón, the Metropolitan Forum and the Rosalía de Castro, Vigo exhibits the Municipal Auditorium, the Palacio de Congresos and Afundanción . Both have active opera seasons and a remarkable theater scene. Tie on stage.
13. Football. As there are gardens in which it is better not to go, we declare a tie between Balaídos and Riazor , because their hobbies and tradition make them equivalent.
14. Parties. L a Reconquest and the Christ of Victory (in a city traditionally considered atheist) they throw Vigo into the streets, but of course, the night of San Xoán in La Coruña with Riazor full of bonfires, crowds and concerts is one of those things that are not forgotten.
fifteen. The truth is that the old shopping streets , such as the Prince or Royal, are increasingly interchangeable with any other in the world, and that is something we all regret. but there are still establishments who resist with a mixture of heroism, their own personality and good work. And if shopping centers are what you are looking for, Coru has that monstrosity (in a good way) that is Marineda City.
celtist hobby
TRANSPORT AND ACCOMMODATION
16. The much vaunted AVE does not arrive, but calm down, we have airports! (too many, could be) . Alvedro, in A Coruña, flies to 7 destinations (Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Almería, London and Lisbon) and Peinador, in Vigo, does it to 9 destinations (Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Almería, Bologna, Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon and Milan, seasonally). We round with a tie.
17. By number of passengers the thing is also similar. Alvedro received 1,063,000 passengers in 2016. Peinador registered somewhat less, 954,000 passengers , but with an increase of 33% compared to 2015 according to AENA. So we declare a draw.
18. In number of hotels and hotel beds, Vigo wins with 77 hotels in Booking compared to 55 in Coruña , or the 45 from Tripadvisor compared to 32 from Coruña . Its number of hotel beds is also higher, 4,500.
19. If five-star hotels are the standard, Coruña has the Hesperia Finisterre, overlooking the sea, and Vigo has two, the fabulous Nagari and the Pazo Los Escudos, with another of those emblematic situations. Ergo, point to Vigo.
twenty. In number of overnight stays, Coruña wins with its 904,000 in 2016 compared to 719,000 in Vigo . But while in Coruña they increased by 7.6% compared to 2015, in Vigo they did so by 19%. Tie on points.
twenty-one. In case we didn't know by now, both cities are seaports and that also has to be reflected in the tourists. Of the 316,000 cruise passengers who arrived in Galicia in 2016, Vigo received 53.4% compared to 40% who disembarked at the port of Coruña. Point for Vigo.
Nagari: FA-BU-LO-SO
GASTRONOMY, BARS AND NIGHTLIFE
22. We start with the Michelin star count and finish quickly. It is Vigo that wins with the **Maruja Limón**.
23. If we take Repsol's Soles as a scale, Maruja Limón in Vigo has 2, but Coruña surpasses it with the two from Alborada and Árbore da Veira and with the two soles from Pablo Gallego and Pulpeira de Melide.
24. By number of restaurants, although Vigo has more inhabitants, A Coruña wins with 817 restaurants according to TripAdvisor compared to 687 in Vigo. Here we give some ideas to select well, although the oysters from A Pedra in Vig Or we don't forgive them.
25. In number of bars too Coruña wins with a bar for every 114 inhabitants , the second in the list of Spain only behind Salamanca.
26. In terms of the amount of nightlife, pubs and nightclubs, Vigo wins. Here we have taken it upon ourselves to vindicate the variety of the Vigo night as it deserves.
Alborada: Galicia on the plate
CONCLUSION
Tachan, with 18 points Coruña wins at 14 of Vigo , a result with several draws that should really make us want to go to both.
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Even if we get itchy, this unites us all