Vasco da Gama
Ian Strathcarron
Fri 27 Jun 2008 17:39
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La Coruna is a big city, sprawling round the sides
of a wide bay, but yachtsmen are lucky because the Marina is in the heart of the
old town. On the way in we passed a Roman lighthouse and an 18th Century
fort. The harbour is lined with striking modernist buildings from the
early 20th Century, but behind them the old town straddles up the hill with
winding cobbled streets, many charming squares and some beautiful
churches. The water is so clean you could eat the mussels that cling in
large colonies to the harbour walls. The town restaurants all serve
octopus cooked in a zillion different ways.
Our next door neighbour was a chatty Australian in
a big boat who had sailed single handed from Buenos Aires. It had
taken six weeks. In the Marina there were many German and Scandinavian
boats. Some of them had dogs and plants in pots on board and looked like
they hadn't left the harbour for months, if not years.
We would like to have stayed longer but we are on
passage so we left at 5.30 this morning. We have had a beautiful sail
today. Plenty of wind behind us, sun and clear sky and the unspoiled
coastline of Galicia to admire. It is mountainous and rugged, with every
now and then what looks like a church perched on the top of a cliff, but Tim
says they are lighthouses which were once manned by monks. At Cape
Finisterre the lighthouse has a monastery attached. I am doing the 9 - 12
shift tonight so should get a great sunset.
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