A Day in La Coruña

Today we traveled by bus to La Coruña, a large, modern city on the Atlantic, the northern coast of Galicia.  The city is ancient, and its most important building, the Tower of Hercules, is a World Heritage Site.  The Tower, built by the Romans as a lighthouse, still has signs of the exterior ramps that were used to haul fuel up to the top for the light. We found out from our guide that there are many legends associated with La Coruña, including that the tower was initially built in victory by Hercules, who buried underneath it the head of a terrible giant he had slain.  Ancient Galicians considered this part of the coast to be the end of the world that they knew.
 More about La Coruña

This compass rose, above, at the base of the Tower of Hercules, represents the four cardinal directions and the seven Celtic Nations.  Galicia was settled by Celts long before the arrival of the Romans.  The Tower of Hercules also served for many centuries as a point of defense from attacks by everyone from Vikings, to the British, to Napoleon's troops.

La Coruña also has a strong connection to our host city, Santiago de Compostela.  Important pilgrims used to disembark from ships here to begin their journey by foot or on horseback to Santiago.  The Church of St. James in La Coruña has a statue of Santiago dressed as a pilgrim.  In this 13th-Century church, we also looked (below, right) as the guide described markings in the stones made to acknowledge the trades' guilds that gave money for its construction.  For example, a pair of scissors etched in one of the stones represents the tailors' guild.

Next, we visited the Mount of St. Peter, which has a spectacular view of the entire city, a peninsula with a port side and a beach side. The land was formerly a military base and not open to the public until the end of the 20th Century.  In the 1920's, two huge artillery canons were bought and transported from England, to provide protection for Spain's coast during the uneasy time between Europe's first and second World Wars.  The two pieces of artillery (on one of which we ares sitting, below) were only ever fired in practice and were eventually de-commissioned by the Spanish military.

 Finally, to the righ is a picture of us in the Plaza de María Pita, a military heroine of the 16th Century.  A local butcher's wife, María Pita rallied men, women, and children to defend the city against an attack by a huge army of British privateers, including Sir Francis Drake.  The citizens of La Coruña were able to repel the British, and María Pita's legendary bravery and reputation as a trouble-maker persist to this day.