Wanderung 15

Volksmarching through Germany and a Cruise to get back.

September-November 2007

Friday, November 2nd - La Coruna, Spain

Bob:

Our ship docked at 7:30 a.m., but we figured, rightly as it turned out, that we had plenty of time to do a walkabout in La Caruna so we had a leisurely breakfast before setting out. We picked up a map at the quayside information center and asked the young women there about an Internet cafe. She gave us an approximate location and we meandered through the crooked, narrow streets (alleys?) of old-town Caruna. La Caruna sits on a peninsula with the cruise ship dock on one side, and we cut across the neck of the peninsula to the other side to begin our search. Although some of the old town is still visible, La Coruna is by and large a modern city with extensive building and renovation currently underway. I once counted 9 building cranes in a core area of the city no more than 1 kilometer square.

But once across the peninsula we found a large beach between headlands jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean. We also found a Western Union office next to Plaza Juan Naya that was also an internet cafe, but it was locked up tight. We couldn't find any hours listed on the door, although the price per hour of connect time, 1.30 Euro, was clearly listed, so we decided to walk around the perimeter of the peninsula and then try our luck again later that afternoon.

Walking up that long beach to Cape Finisterre (I think), we saw two middle aged guys swimming in the ocean. Since it was 9 degrees Celsius (about 45 degrees Fahrenheit) and I had ear muffs and gloves on, I was amazed at those guys going for a swim. It must have been very "refreshing"! The beach ended and the shore became much rockier as we reached the headland, and since it was a clear, sunny day we had great views across the bay.

Monika:

It was a beautiful cool but sunny day. A good day to walk around the city of La Coruna. When we got off the ship, we first stopped at the information desk to get a map. The friendly lady behind the desk told us that we absolutely had to visit the Tower of Hercules. When I asked how to get there, she told us to take a Taxi. I mentioned, we like to walk and how long would it take, where upon she said 10 minutes by Taxi. Oh well, I gave up and Bob asked where an Internet Cafe was, she indicated a street along which she thought it may be. Well we trundled off trying to coordinate street signs with the map.

La Coruna is on a peninsula and the ship was docked on one side of the narrowest part. We headed across to a beautiful bay with a nice beach that reminded me of La Concha in San Sebastian at the north east corner of the Atlantic Coast of Spain. From there we headed up the street, she had indicated. Everything was still closed, after all this is Spain and it was only 10 o'clock. But even closed, we did not spot an Internet cafe on this street, bars a plenty, but no Internet cafe. So at the end of the street we just headed up the next street, and there it was, tightly closed, but an Internet cafe nonetheless. So we decided to go back to the beach and walk along a beautiful promenade along the coast to the Tower of Hercules at the tip of the peninsula.


 

Bob:

On the headland we found the hallmark of La Caruna, the Tower of Hercules. It is impressive looking square tower of cut stone with a lighthouse on top that supposedly has been in continuous operation for over 2,000 years! The tower was built by the Romans according to the literature we read, and had been extensively repaired in 1791. We entered the tower, in fact through a an area where the ancient foundations had been exposed and carefully labeled. I was sorely missing the ability to read Spanish because I would have liked to find out more about the cut stones I was viewing.

To actually enter the tower, we had to duck through a doorway that looked old enough to be an original Roman door. I say that because the archway that formed the top of the door was a perfect semicircle with a keystone, and I associate that type of arch with Roman construction. The climb to the top of the tower was 250 steps, but the view was well worth the climb. The bay we had just walked around was to our left, the Atlantic Ocean straight in front, and the bay leading into the harbor where the Jewel of the Seas was docked was to our right.

Monika:

For 2 Euros each, we could climb about 250 steps up to the top of the tower. The tower of Hercules is the oldest lighthouse in the world built by the Romans about 2000 years ago. It was restored in 1791. When you came into the building, you could see some of the excavated foundation and the basic design while walking up the stairs. Amazing. Up at the top we had a beautiful view across La Coruna and the mountains to the south across the bay.


 

Bob:

From the tower we continued through the park at the base, where we found some very curious sculptures. One was a field of stone monoliths set upright into the ground, each one pierced by a perfectly carved rectangular hole in the middle. For a couple of the monoliths, their holes lined up in a way that could not possibly have been accidental, which was fascinating but mysterious.

Next to the field of stone monoliths was a recreated section of what Monika and I called "Stonehenge". The stone uprights and lintels were, however, perfectly shaped and precisely fitted together. It was certainly pretty, but again the only explanations were in Spanish so I assume it was Symbolic Modern Art of some kind.

We continued around the peninsula along a very nice, wide promenade that ran right along the shoreline. Along the way we passed the old fort guarding the harbor entrance and a couple of places where small sandy beaches sheltered between rough rocky promontories. At last we rounded the sailboat marina and saw the ship, a welcome sight because by this time we had been walking 4 hours and were getting thirsty, tired, and quite hungry.

Monika:

Coming back down, we continued walking along the shore line towards the ship. The parks along the shore had fascinating sculptures, some having to do with legends around Hercules, others that looked just weird, like a bunch of stones with cut out rectangles or a Moorish looking locked garden. By this time it was getting close to lunch time, so we decided to keep on walking along the shore till we got to the ship, have lunch, and then head over to the Internet cafe. The walk to the ship was somewhat longer than anticipated, since we had to go around a couple little inlets, but at last we saw the ship behind a yacht club. Of course, we were somewhat slower, since there were a lot of photographic opportunities.


 

Bob:

After checking back at our room, we went up to the Windjammer for a relxed lunch at the buffet while we considered our options. Although we were tired, the Plaza Juan Naya was directly across the peninsula from the cruise ship dock and we thought a relaxed half hour of walking should get us back there, which would leave plenty of time to do email and get back to the ship before the 4:30 deadline. I learned one lesson while we walked back to the internet cafe, and that is that having a good city map with all the street names does not help you one whit if you can't find the names of the streets while you are walking. Specifically, in La Coruna as we had found across Spain in Wanderung 14, street names were few, far between, and above all hard to find! We had to stand at intersections carefully inspecting the buildings on every corner for any tiny plaque or engraved stone that might contain a street name. Generally speaking, we searched in vain and I was reduced to using the GPS and the general layout of the streets to guide us across town to the Plaza Juan Naya, particularly since some of the "steets" indicated on the map were really pedestrian alleyways rather than the prototypical vehicular road I was expecting. Very confusing.

Still, we made it back without going too far astray and fortunately the Western Union office had by now opened and we could sign up for an hour of Internet time. We checked our email for about half an hour and spent the last half hour surfing the web, particularly the cruise line sites. I found a new one called "cruiseaddicts.com" and I thought the name was both funny and yet descriptive of folks like us who do so enjoy the big ships. Compared to many of the folks at that site who had done 20 or more cruises, we were relative pikers.

After signing out we resumed our city ramble, but this time walked farther inland to recross the peninsula and check out a big long park indicated on our maps. The park bordered on the new convention center which in turn bordered on the cruise ship terminal, so we had a quick shot back to the ship if we became really fatigued or if we started to run out of time.

The park turned out to be a nice city park, complete with a couple of kiddy rides. We saw some interesting statues and flower beds; some of the roses still had a couple of blossoms on them. The most intriguing parts of the floral gardens was a floral clock, which I have seen several other places, and a floral calendar, which I have never seen anywhere before. The calendar had the month and year (November, 2007) spelled out in some kind of low-lying shrubbery, but what intrigued us the most was that the correct date ("2") was also spelled out with some kind of plant shaped a bit like a tulip when they first emerge from the ground. The ground right around the "2" was raked very clean, and it really looked like they replant those plants every morning with the number for the date, which is a lot of trouble to go through but fun for us tourists.

Monika:

Once fed and rested, we studied the map to find the quickest way to the internet cafe. It was really just a few blocks cross town. At 2PM it actually was open and quite respectable looking, and at 1.30 Euros per hour, it was not quite free WiFi, but still quite cheap. At that price, we paid for an hour and took our time, reading our email and answering everyone as well as sending a last "we are here" message to kith, kin, and friends.

We both got something cheap (compared to the ship) to drink (Bob a coke, I a beer) sat at the beach and watched the people walk by. Ambling back to our home away from home, we found a little park, that stretched out for about three blocks. Of course, there were several statues, and even a rose that was still blooming. But most impressive was a display with today's date out of plants. Do they really come each morning to change the number for the day? It looked like it.

Bob:

We did make it back to the ship on time and once on board we walked two more miles to earn more ShipShape dollars before dinner. The after dinner entertainment was a concert violinist and he was excellent. The violin was some 1790s Italian make that he said was worth over $200,000 (maybe the first Ferrari?), and it had excellent tonal qualities. In fact, it was almost a shame to hear him play warhorses like a medley from the movie "Fiddler on The Roof" when it was clear that he could play the most difficult conert pieces if he had chosen to do so, but probably that was his assessment of what the audience wanted. After that it was a quick "lights out" for the night.

Monika:

Back at the ship, we were in time for the 4:30 "walk-a-mile" and got 2 shipshape dollars each for walking 2 miles. While we were walking, the captain announced that we were ready to sail, and at exactly 5PM he tooted the horn and the lines were let go. We took pictures of La Coruna as we left. On the way out we saw the old fort, that we did not have time to see during our morning walk, and we waved to the Tower of Hercules as we sailed by.

Evening entertainment was a violinist who was quite good, althought not the entertainer that the pianist from the previous evening. But he played quite well. He was mainly accompanied by taped music, but ever now and then the local band got to play too. The drummer looked extremely bored in between playing. He had not quite learned the performers' dictum, when someone else is playing you sit still.


 

Copyright 2008 by R. W. Holt and E. M. Holt
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