DAY TEN A CORUŇA and SURROUNDING AREAS

After coffee and a croisante we headed out into a fairly warm bright sunny day. Andres brought up the car from the garage and off we went for a driving tour of A Coruna. We were here a couple of years ago so Paul said he was not walking all the way round the Promenade to the Torre de Hercules!

That was fine with me but I just had to go see it again. It is the oldest working lighthouse in the world. The Romans built it around 1^st or 2^nd century. Of course it has been restored! Fascinating place with wild headlands and walking paths. There are statues and legends galore and there it stands in all its historic glory!

Ok! Enough lollygagging around! Off to Monte de San Pedro which is waaay around the bay and very high up. Last time, we took a bus  and walked for miles, this time we drove. There are some huge guns up there pointed out into the Atlantic.

They were built in Barrow in Furness around 1929 and put in place, after a tortuous trip at the rate of 200 yards a day on specially built carriages to make it up the hill. They were only fired once as a test and never in action. Their function was quite important. During WW11, Spain was exhausted from its civil war and was neutral, ostensibly, but they were quite pally with Germany and German ships and subs were moored at A Coruna and Ferrol, so shall we say they were an insurance policy? The park on the Monte is lovely, again, wild headlands and walks and amazing views over the Atlantic and the city. We did not take the teleferrico down the hill but did encounter an awesome ceramic octopus and an obelisk on the promenade!

After some refreshment we decided to head out to Muxia for a repeat visit. It is lovely country and it was a gorgeous day…..so why not. We found a Cortes Ingles and Hypercor and did a little light shopping and hit the highway towards Muxia. The church shrine had been struck by lightening on Christmas Day 2013 but was totally refurbished in just 6 short months. The sleepy little town was quite busy mid day but we found a sidewalk café in the brilliant sun for our menu del dia: Jane tried Raxo (lomo pork diced cubes cooked in olive oil with caramelized onions and patatas. Paul had Serrano ham, eggs, patatas a breakfast meal for lunch. We walked all round the shrine and climbed the hills to the south where the film, The Way had been shot. A bus of tourist unloaded the occupants climbed over the rocks like tiny little ants darting hither and yawn.

We had the opportunity to make our way along a different coast road back to A Coruňa. The yellow broom lined the highway and several field had wild flowers and a few poppies too. Brilliant, just brilliant after multiple days of overcast. Friday night was spent in the old town “people watching” and trying various tapas. Another great fun filled day, Friday was back to the hotel to rest and to see what Saturday might bring our way.