Port 96 La Coruña, Spain
Buenos dias!
A little haze followed us, but blue skies were coming as we arrive in La Coruña on Jun 16th, 2022!
The ship spun around and we backed in to our berth. Very nice view from the veranda today!
This stunning building came into view behind us, under the ferris wheel! We are told nothing about this but know from online searches this is part of the Radio National de Espana (RNE) broadcasting company. That explains the antennas sticking flying above the rooftop!
We are on a tour today to the walled city of Lugo! This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site! There are only seven people on this tour! Woo hoo! Lots of room to spread out on our bus!
It is the only city in Europe that retains its complete wall, 2.2 kilometers of it! Xulio, our tour guide, said there are 72 towers on the wall. I have to take his word for it, because I can only count 71 on this drawing, and that’s with some liberties!
This is what the actual wall looks like from outside! It was built in the 3rd-4th century AD (CE), and the original bottom of the wall is 3-4 feet below us! Construction and destruction have actually raised the ground level that much since 400 AD!
We have a group of elementary school kids trooping past!
Afte the kids disappear we head the other way past these towers to find the gate. Xulio tells us the window on the first tower was a rebuild, but was done incorrectly!
Here’s the gate we entered. The towers are clearly of a different stone than the rest of the wall, so this had more importance for protecting the city.
Just before we enter the gate, Xulio points out this obelisk. At the top it has this sunburst, but this is really a scallop shell! The radiating lines in the shell represent the different cities from which the Camino de Santiago do Compostela begin for the pilgrimage! The arrow below the scallop points the way to go, then the Kilometer reading lets you know the distance from here is just 417 meters shy of 100 kilometers for the pilgrimage from here!
Inside the walls there are numerous homes and shops that were cobbled together reusing parts of the wall and foundation.
We find a set of steps that take us to the top of the wall!
Then we begin our walk! It is wide open! Xulio tells us the wall is stacked rock on the insde and outside, but the center is largely sand and gravel. The wall is not solid rock all the way through!
We reach the tower with the two archer windows, and Xulio explains there should be a window in the center, then two more windows to either side. This gives five windows with hiding room for the archers in between, as well as access to shoot attackers who make it to the base of the wall between the towers!
As we walk we come across this middle school with kids at recess. This school is inside the wall!
A little farther down is a school for the elementary students! This one is outside of the wall!
Periodically we see open streets below leading to the wall. This typically means there is a gate through the wall at this point! (There are several gates in the wall like this!)
Allow me to jump down to show you the gate!
At this particular point, this is the gate through the wall. You can see these are the same buildings as the previous photo!
OK, I’ll jump back up to continue the wall walk…
I love this view with the wall stretching out into the distance!
We only cover about 400 meters of the wall before we descend back into the city. When we come down we come straight to the lovely church! This is the Lugo Cathedral! We’ll see more of this shortly!
This is the actual UNESCO World Heritage marker for Lugo’s Roman Wall!
Within the wall, the scallop shell is embedded in the walk along the path of the Camino! The path of the Camino de Santiago is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site! That’s two here!
We walk around the Lugo Cathedral. It is a fabulous sight! The medieval part of Lugo is also on the UNESCO World Heritage List! That’s three in a day!
Xulio asks us if we’re familiar with “The DaVinci Code”? He brings us to the side entrance of the Lugo Cathedral entrance to show how the DaVinci Code is also represented here in Lugo! See the image of Christ over the door? Look under his feet!
Here Christ is portrayed in the center with Mary Magdalene laying her head on his shoulder!
The cathedral is closed, so we move on to the Church of San Pedro (Igrexe de San Pedro) that is more in the center of the walled city. It appears to have gone through several modifications in its life! We get to go inside this church!
This was built during the Celtic era of Spain, and belief in withcraft is abundant during this era! We see Celtic symbols of protection from witches engraved on the doorway!
Also engraved in the doorway is the symbol of the Knights Templar!
Inside, the church is tight, compact! The white walls and high windows keep it very bright despite the dark ceiling! The Stations of the Cross are beautifully executed, but the pictures I grabbed are blurry – bummer!
The gothic ribbed roof provides for long stained glass, but it is interesting that the window are not symmetrical! That is probably St Frolian on the wall where the other window should be.
A large cloister now provides ample display space for a collection of sundials (like the beautiful one below!), columns, cornices, and other pieces of art recovered from around the city!
I never saw an array of sundials like this cloister held! This, to me, was the most beautiful!
Someone provided armor for this stately soldier maintaining guard! We all need a chuckle now and then!
This sculpture appears to celebrate the inauguration of Xoaquin Garcia Diez as the Mayor of the city in 1997. It represents his family! This is an interesting mix of stone, bronze, relief, and free-standing sculture!
It’s finally time to hasta la vista to La Coruña! Thanks for the lovely time and the great weather!
As we sail out I see the fort I missed coming in.
Then I see another fort! This port is well-protected!
We leave the immediate harbor.
Then we head for the breakwater.
Finally we’re out of the breakwater, and our pilot decides we’re on our own!
A few hours later, when we were probably 25 miles from shore, we received a visitor on our veranda! This sweet dove landed on the chair. It hopped down to the floor. Joy tried to set out a bowl of water for it, but the slider motion was enough to spook it, and it flew off. I’m not sure where it went, but I pray it had rested enough to make it home!
We bid adios to La Coruña and Spain for the last time! Next stop – Honfleur, France, Take 2!
