Well I’m in the Northwest of Spain at the moment and it’s quite lovely. The beaches are beautiful but unfortunately the weather has been cool, well too cool for an Australian to venture into the water!
I think that’s the only problem with this area. The weather can be quite temperamental and it’s often windy. The good aspect is that it doesn’t seem to attract as many tourists as the South of Spain.
There is quite a lot to do here and it would make a good holiday location for families. A bike track follows the shoreline around the city and there are numerous places to hire bikes. There is also Segway hire and tours around the city environs.
The lighthouse here — Torre de Hercules, is the oldest lighthouse in the world. It was constructed by the Romans and whilst it’s been extensively renovated, the original structure can be seen on the inside.
The Castle of San Anton, houses an interesting archaeology and history museum. It was originally built as a fortress but has also served as a prison.
You can also visit the home of Maria Pita, famous for her role in defeating the English Armada in 1589.
We took a day trip to Santiago, which is about an hour’s drive away from A Coruña (yes — we cheated!). Apparently Santiago is one of the three most important places in Christianity, after Jerusalem and Rome. It’s also the final stop on the Camino de
Santiago pilgrimage. Our Spanish friends told us you must kiss the feet of the Shrine of St James the Great in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. This, we were told after we’d visited and when we said we hadn’t in fact kissed anything, our error was met with gasps of disbelief. We had to promise to go back and correct our oversight — perhaps next time I’ll walk!
We left Santiago and drove to Lugo. There is not a great deal here but it’s the only city in the world entirely enclosed by a Roman wall. It’s perfectly in tact and you can walk all the way along the top of the structure. They hold a Roman festival here in June, which sounds like good fun to attend.
All in all I do recommend a visit but keep in mind the temperamental weather.
