The council could have put that money towards beautifying our stretch of Calle Aragon. The long section from Calvario to the ridiculous roundabout with the lighthouse (which Phil insists is a pawn from a chess set) has been nicely renovated with smart new pavements. The stretch from the Carrefour shopping centre to just beyond the breadshop has also been done. (Sadly, in both stretches the smart new pavements have already begun to be marked with the splodges of discarded chewing gum but that is another problem.) All along the central reservation plants have been tastefully inserted. So it's just our section of the street that has the old, messy, sometimes cracked pavement. Maybe next year ...
Money is clearly being spent beautifying the streets of Vigo. Last year we noticed a positive explosion of olive trees on street corners and occasionally on small roundabouts. Vigo is the Ciudad Olívica, after all. They appeared to be quite mature trees transplanted wholesale but looking remarkably like giant bonsais, if such a thing is possible.
This year a different kind of street decor has erupted, in keeping with the lighthouse/pawn, complete with turning light at the top, on the roundabout near our flats. Here are some photos.
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Perhaps the wildest is the one I have not managed to photograph because I have only seen it from a car whose windscreen was too filthy to make photography possible. On a large roundabout on the Avenida de Castelao, heading towards Samil, there is a large fishing boat. This is a real, genuine fishing boat, lovingly restored by the look of it, a fitting tribute to the fishermen of Vigo.
As you drive up the avenue, the boat dominates the view. Unsuspecting drivers who do not know the area must wonder if it has been dropped from the sky by a tornado. I am told that there was much controversy about the installation of this "barcazo" (big boat). Some people objected to the money that was spent on it but in the end the mayor had his way and the roundabout was adorned with the aforementioned fishing boat.
Where is the money coming from for all this street decor? And why is our bit of street not getting new pavements?
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