Our sail down the Rias Baixas this summer had a very special visit for me. I had heard of the town of Marín where there were a huge number of protestant Christians, a very rare occurence in Catholic Spain. We sailed very close to the town and tied up in a marina nearby. As we took a taxi to church that evening, we passed another huge Evangelical Church - right at the top of the pier. What had been going on? After church the pastor told us that the history was that fishermen going to the UK in the early 1880's returned with Bibles (We think from the newly formed Fisherman's Mission in the UK.)
When British missionaries arrived in the town they built a church in Marín and another in Augete where we were moored.
These buildings were at a time when the towns were small villages and it turned out the structures were bigger than the corresponding Catholic Chapels, who had to rebuild and add towers! There is still a high number of evangelicals in the area, well over 10% and a massive turn out even in the holiday season. The pastor kindly drove us back to the boat when to my shame I had the washing still out - and that on a Sunday. Oh pants, how impious.
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