The place of Galicia that amazed Julio Verne and was his inspiration in ‘twenty thousand leagues of underwater travel

“Well, Mr. Aronnax, we are in the Bay of Vigo, and only it depends on you that you can know your secrets.” This is just a small fragment of the chapter ‘The Bay of Vigo’ of 20,000 submarine travel leaguesJulio Verne’s novel, which is partly set, as the title says, in that specific area of ​​Galicia. A place that the writer had not visited, but that, encouraged by a legend of a treasure, decided that it would be right there where Captain Nemo would find his wealth. Years later, the French would fall in love with the town.

Rande’s battle: how Vigo’s bay appeared in the work of Julio Verne

Julio Verne had never visited Vigo’s bay, but after knowing the legend of a hidden treasure in its waters, he was clear that it would be the place where his captain Nemo would find his own. The fact is that it was believed that there were some Spanish galleons at the bottom of the sea after sinking into the Battle of Randewhich happened in the context of the War of succession In 1702.

This legend was known at the time, and the French writer had discovered her by reading that a compatriot, Hipólito Magencarried out an expedition to find the famous treasure that was hidden in the bay, loaded with gold and silver from America. From there he took his inspiration to Twenty thousand leagues of underwater travel.

The two Julio Verne trips in Vigo

In 1869 it was published Twenty thousand leagues of underwater travelwhat would be one of Julio Verne’s great works, and it would not be until almost ten years later when the French would visit Vigo for the first time, being amazed. He repeated on a second occasion, and in both it was by chance, without planning it, but of which we have details thanks to the press echoed in the author’s area, already recognized.

Julio Verne’s first visit to Vigo took place in 1878, when a storm prevented him from continuing for his journey towards the Mediterranean and forced him to take earth. Something similar would happen to him when he returned in May 1884, but this time for a breakdown on his ship, the Saint Michelle IIwhich would be fixed in a workshop that, curiously, would build an submarine years later.

“It is a real fjord,” wrote the French author in one of his letters on Vigo Bay, where he had set his famous novel. “You cannot imagine anything more prodigious than this bay, immense lake surrounded by mountains,” he said in his diary, while also telling a friend that “everything is truly beautiful” through a letter dated June 6, 1878, a few days after his first visit when he was on Portuguese soil.

Julio Verne’s footprints in Vigo

From July Verne through Vigo Bay we have the chronicle of the time that the press made then. That is why some of the things the writer did, which was greatly welcomed in the city, where He came to participate in his big partiesthat took place in June at that time, and there is also a trace of the places he visited.

Thus, he had breakfast and read the newspaper at the Continental Hotel, went to dances in the gathering, and went up to the mountain or Castro, from where he could admire all the beauty of the full Vigo Bay.

Thanks to his atmosphere of one of his most famous novels in the area, in the centenary of his death in 2005 a statue was built in his honor. You can also see one of Captain Nemo, the fictional character of the story, in front of the island of San Simón, where he found his treasure.