Coruna 43 22N 8 24W
Gryphon II
Chris and Lorraine Marchant
Sun 26 Jul 2009 20:48
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Coruna proved a useful and interesting stop,
despite the weather. An intriguing medieval fair was in progress with a
wonderful atmosphere generated by the stalls selling all manner of galettes,
chargrilled meats, eastern sweetmeats, baked potatoes, herbs and spices, cheeses
etc.
There were also Medieval minstrels
and jugglers, complete with a leader who proceeded to dive into the
fountain in the ancient town square!
  Hams suspended over the tables in a local
bar/cafe Chargrilled meats of every description, galettes, pancakes,
baked potatoes,
eastern sweet meats, herbs and spices flowed from the
stalls.
  Throwing clay pots on a foot powered
wheel
Performers in the 'old' city square
Artisan cheeses
We also took a tram to the Tower of
Hercules built by the Romans (and now the oldest operational lighthouse in the
world) and to a rather high quality aquarium.
   Santiago de
Compostella
After a boring day of washing and shopping we took
the train through the atractive countryside to Santiago, to see the city
that Hattie had walked 500 miles to get to during her Camino across Spain.
It was an important Saints's Day and we expected the town to be crowded
with pilgrims.However when we arrived the streets were filled not with the
devout but with Free Galician activists numbering many thousands. The crowd were
good natured but there was clearly an undercurrent of something harder with
various ultra left wing groups in evidence.
However the crowds thinned and we had an excellent
day of site seeing and eating ( a rather good 4 course Galician meal with wine
for 11.5 Euros!) These giants with giant heads appeared both in the cathedral
and out on the street where they did some sort of square dance...but we never
really found out who they were, except that they include black people, south
American Indians , white people and others that the Spanish culture has collided
with in the past.
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