Standing on Vigo's waterfront at dawn, watching fishing boats head out across the Ría, I thought about the Romans who settled this harbor two thousand years ago. They called it "vicus spacorum" – the small village – though they found something remarkable here: the only solar evaporation sea saltworks of its kind they'd discovered. Salt was gold in ancient times, and Vigo had the Atlantic sun and shallow waters to make it.

The port really grew up in the 16th century, but that prosperity drew the wrong kind of attention. When Francis Drake's fleet raided these waters, King Felipe IV decided enough was enough – he built the castle and defensive walls that still stand in the old town. By November 1881, Vigo had grown important enough to establish its own Port Authority. Then in 1947, they granted it free trade zone status, and the city exploded. Today this port stretches nearly three miles along the coast, supports over 30,000 jobs, and runs Europe's largest fishing fleet. The European Fisheries Control Agency even put their headquarters here.

But here's what makes Vigo special for us cruisers: it's the gateway to Cíes Islands National Park. We caught the 9 a.m. ferry (booked months in advance) and stepped onto Rodas Beach – powder-white sand connecting two islands in a perfect crescent, water so clear we saw fish from the ferry. The 3-km hike to Faro da Porta gave views that made us gasp – the entire Ría de Vigo spread below like a map, the working port in the distance still doing what it's done for centuries. We had octopus salad and Estrella Galicia on the beach while Atlantic rollers crashed, thinking about how this same coastline fed Roman soldiers with salt-preserved fish.

We arrived back in Vigo at golden hour – the old town Casco Vello is all tiny squares and tapas bars smelling of pimientos de Padrón, built on those medieval foundations Felipe IV fortified. The pros: you get paradise islands, working maritime history, and authentic Galician culture in one day. The cons: Cíes tickets sell out fast, though walking the old defensive walls and harbor is lovely if you miss them.