A Coruna is a port city sitting on a promontory in the Galicia Region of northwest Spain. Its a place that many people will never have heard of except for football fans – Deportivo de La Coruna is a professional football club once playing in La Liga but currently in the Spanish Second Division.

A Coruna (and also Ferrol nearby) is where the Camino Ingles began where medieval pilgrims disembarked from their boats to start their treck to Santiago de Compostela. It’s also  famous for a Roman lighthouse – the Tower of Hercules and some standing stones ,Menhires for Peace , which appear monolithic from a  distance but were  actually built as recently as 1994 as a tribute to the Celtic heritage of Galicia.

Its a pleasant town with an interesting port , at least one nice beach that we saw , a commercial centre and some interesting architecture with a medieval area ,like all the towns in N W Spain.

We stayed in the commercial area at the pleasant Moon Hotel   , conveniently beside our favourite Department Store El Corte Ingles. From here its a short walk to the Paseo Maritime , a 24km long promenade which gives some very nice walking around the promontory on which the city sits.

We didn’t enjoy the best of weather during our visit but its fair to say that this probably isn’t a town which overseas visitors would visit other than as part of a tour of the area or as a port of call on a Cruise .We enjoyed the visit nevertheless but 3 nights here were enough. Next stop Leon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the Galicia Region of north west Spain and was  the shrine of Saint James and the foundation of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela which is said to contain the remains of Saint James and has been the destination of thousands upon thousands of pilgrims every year since the 9th century.

There is quite a large historic centre contain the Cathedral itself and many historic buildings in narrow winding streets. Sadly much of the historic centre is a tourist trap lined with bars and restaurants and shop after shop selling tourist tat.This is also the site of the University of Santiago de Compostela and the numbers of students and young visitors result in a busy and noisy nightlife .This is a lovely city but for us spoilt by the crowds .After 3 nights here we were ready to escape the herds and move on to the far north and the town of A Coruna.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We arrived in Pontevedra on July 16 2018. We were staying in a small but quite modern and comfortable  hotel and within an easy walk of the historic centre. This was our first stop in our summer 2017 Spain itinerary which would take us north through Rias Baixas to Santiago de Compostela and then on into Galicia, Asturias ,Leon , Cantabria and Rioja , ending up at San Sebastian in the Basque Country in time for their Semana Grande , their August Festival.

We stayed 3 nights in Pontevedra and this was quite enough for what is only a small town .This north west corner of Spain is very different to the East coast Costas that we are more familiar with.The towns very much have their own identity and cuisine which majors on fish and seafood and especially octopus and there are some beautiful little villages with fabulous beaches. The downside is that it does rain quite a bit more than on the east side of the country although not during our visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Day Trip to O Grove

 

Ogrove is a small fishing holiday resort a few miles from Potevedra , much favoured by the Spanish. There are hotels and restaurants galore but the highlight for us was the fresh food market with some great fresh fish stalls.

 

 

 

 

 

On 20th April we caught a fast train from Tarragona to Girona, arriving mid afternoon. We had enjoyed our couple of days in Tarragona but were  looking forward to our last few days in Spain before moving on to France.

Girona is the largest town in North Catalunia. Built on the River Onya, the place is renowned for  the  interesting medieval architecture  found in the Old Quarter contained within well preserved city walls on the east side of the river.

The riverside setting is very pleasant with tall multi-coloured riverside buildings and the Old Quarter is full of interesting buildings and history –  including an old Jewish Quarter and several museums. Obviously, as ever, there’s an impressive Cathedral (though we didn’t venture inside on this occasion), a basilica and plenty of old churches, plenty to fill two or three days although you could easily see everything in a day. It all feels rather upmarket with some very nice shops, restaurants and bars.

Several bridges cross the river into a more modern city which has some impressive squares lined with bars and restaurants and some nice shopping. Quite different to the Old Quarter but still a nice place to wander around, stop for a beer and do some people watching. In one square we came across a band playing with a crowd of locals dancing to the music. Great fun.

 

 

We had booked an apartment in the Old Quarter. Beautifully renovated, furnished and kitted out, we can highly recommend the place if anyone wants to consider it. The apartment is in the middle of all the action with restaurants and bars either side, across the narrow street and below – light sleepers should avoid or bring earplugs! We had a super 5 days here doing nothing much other than pottering around the town, getting lost in the maze of tiny streets and walking off the excesses of the night before! The city walls are walkable and they rise up behind the town giving great views over the town itself and the surrounding countryside.

 

 

This is a lively city and was especially so on St Georges Day 23rd April and the days leading up to it when the main streets and squares closest to the river  in the Old Quarter and the bridges were lined with festive market stalls. On St Georges Day itself  families and couples are out on the streets as it’s customary for men to buy fresh roses for the women of the family and for friends and family to buy each other books  – the place is packed with book stalls and flower stalls – all very nice but rather strange!

 

All in all, this was a great stay. Ann was particularly impressed and actually places Girona ahead of Valencia in the list of places to be revisited once we have visited all the other places we need to visit! But it will be a while before we get to that point………

 

 

 

 

 

Following our week in Valencia, we travelled up the East coast of Spain by train to Tarragona on April 18th. Girona would be our final destination in Spain before leaving for France but Valencia to Girona was quite a long haul and a bit messy involving a change of train and a long layover in Barcelona and so we decided to break the journey at Tarragona. We knew nothing about the place but it was a convenient stop over and the place gets a decent write up because of its history with lots of ancient ruins dating back to the time when it was part of a Roman colony.

We stayed at  the Alexandra Aparthotel with a decent room and good wifi and well located just outside the old town, handy for  shops, restaurants and the Roman stuff.

Tarragona proved a good choice. Its attractive old town with the usual narrow car free streets  has some very nice shops, restaurants and bars. There are lots of nice squares, a very interesting cathedral and with the usual excellent food market there was plenty to fill a couple of days although its fair to say we really used this as a rest break following what had been for us a hectic week in Valencia.