Tuesday 31 May, 2016

Marina Coruna, La Coruna, Galicia, Spain 43 22.1N 0 8 23.1W

Today's Blog by David  (Time zone: BST+1; UTC +2)

We are headed for the Spanish Rias, in Galicia, NW Spain  - pretty much W of La Coruna. The wind is blowing at about 15-20 knots from NE; the wind is cold but the sun is shining,  the sea is blue  - What’s not to like?

Well  ………. for one thing, we are not sailing. We are moored in La Coruna waiting for Richard and Simon to arrive.  Chiz, Chiz.  The only saving grace is that the weather is likely to be the same tomorrow.  Hooray!    This Richard is Richard Norton, a veteran of the Indian Ocean and North Atlantic crossings who I am sure is looking forward to his accustomed berth on the Pit.  Simon? … is Simon Dixon, from Hawkley, and a Newbie to this Blog and to passage making on Serendipity – we’ll try to be nice to him.

We have spent the last couple of days taking in the ambience of a city steeped in a history which dates back to roman times.  Indeed, it predates even then since this lighthouse is said to have been built by Hercules after he  had slain Gerion, a cruel giant that subjugated the local population.

Indeed, Hercules is credited with founding the whole city.   Whether he did or he didn’t, (some think it a mythJ!),  the Romans rebuilt the lighthouse  and then it was used as a fort before it was turned back into a light house (very necessary in these parts) in the late 1700s.

The older part of the  present La Coruna dates largely from the 19^thh century.  Narrow streets are  lined by buildings of four  or more stories. The whole area is now pedestrianised:  all cars are ensconced in massive underground car parks. The absence of cars enables you to imagine what it might once have been like to get around here.

The older parts come to life in the evening,  as bars, tapas houses, and restaurants draw the motorists from underground to breathe in and enjoy the ambience.

At some point in its history, La Coruna’s inhabitants developed a fascination with windows.   These ‘galerias’ are common throughout Galicia.  Wooden galleries of windows which protrude perhaps two feet (60cm)  from the wall at the first and/or second floor are a common sight in older buildings in the towns we have visited. Here, in La Coruna, they do it in spades:

Quite a stunning spectacle.   There are some beautiful buildings.  This is the old  town hall is in the Plaza de Maria Pita, (she was a feisty woman who kept Sir Francis Drake at bay and prevented him from taking the town in the sometime after the Spanish Armada set out from here in 1588. )

Plaza de Maria is itself  a very attractive square edged with bars and restaurants and is where the real people gather to be seen of an evening.   Reminiscent of St Mark’s Square in Venice – but only a little bit:

Maria Pita is the person holding the spear. …. Anyway – the Newbies are due to land  any second …. Must go.

Ooohh!  Just a minute.  Tomorrow’s sail is along the NW Galician coast line between hear and Cape Finistere.  It was along this coast that it is said (as has been said of some English coasts) that the locals lit lights to tempt passing visitors inshore onto the rocks and to their deaths.  Consequently, this coast is called Costa Da Morte, the Coast of Death.

Wish us well.