April 30, 2025
Vigo, Spain
Celts were in Spain before Ireland! ~ TripAdvisor
Our tour guide shocked me today by claiming Galicia, the northwestern part of Spain where Vigo is located, was first settled by Celts from Ireland. She painted a vivid picture of kilt-wearing, bagpipe playing Celtic/Spaniards.
But I was totally skeptical. Especially after I asked her how these Irish Celts reached Spain.
"Ships," she claimed. Then she took us to an old manor house with a large garden, private chapel and archaeological museum, but only allowed us to tail her through the gardens while she pointed out plants from other countries that have thrived here. We were not allowed to visit the interior of any of the buildings where we were assured we'd find evidence of ancient celts in Spain.
Not satisfied, I started doing a web search after we reboarded the Sky. The Celts originated, not in Ireland, but central Europe along the Danube and radiated out from there. No Irish celts arrived by sea. They migrated into Spain and throughout Europe on foot and replaced the Neanderthals that used to live in the region.
I can see I'll need to do more investigating about this when I get home, but for now, I won't have nightmares set to the screel of Spanish bagpipes.
Here's the DH's photo montage of our day in Vigo:
It's a very pretty, clean city with a nice mix of old and new architecture. The sky threatened rain all day, but politely waited until we were back on board the ship to drop its liquid sunshine.
One more Spanish port and then we're headed to France!
