Hello people!
There are special places, where we travel and it seems like they have taken us much further, to another world, a different world than we thought. As with the northwest of Spain, for a moment it seems like a Gaelic region with Celtic airs, with Scottish-style cliffs and rough northern seas. But it is still Spain, a unique corner called Galicia.
And we have already visited the most emblematic and holy city, Santiago de Compostela, destination of all pilgrimages and of deep feeling. But you have to see the main city of the region, La Coruña, or in the local language A Coruña. An ancient, magical city always turned towards the sea.
Because its waters and its sailors are the most important thing, where life is, and in all that abundant and rich seafood that appears as if by magic, but with effort, in front of the skyline of the historic city.
It is a historic city and even a legend, because along one of its side coasts we can go to the north, towards a mound to see an element truly from another time. The Tower of Hercules, which indicated the end of the world, because many centuries ago the end of the world was in this area, as the Romans who came here determined: Finis Terre (the end of the earth).
We see the tower, which seems to have been built in the time of the gods, watching over that immense, agitated oceanic sea that looks towards that other new, unknown world.
Almost wild views, calm and deserted beaches, far from the city's crowds, are still part of the city, and suddenly a music that envelops everything perfectly, they are playing a bagpipe, not Scottish but Galician, here the Celtic culture also permeates the entire landscape and the wind carries those magical melodies to us.
We return to the historical part, to the city centre where we also discover the magic of medieval, Romanesque, neo-Gothic architecture and more of its great churches, buildings and monuments. In all of them there is a special atmosphere, another era that merges with this one, a peaceful tranquillity that allows us to contemplate the details, and also to notice that graceful figure climbing that column...
But it's not all about looking, observing and walking, you also have to eat, and in Galicia in general, and in the city of La Coruña, eating is a must. You eat well, local produce of very good quality, all fresh and delicious.
The most famous and popular: octopus, pulpo à feira, with olive oil and paprika, cut into pieces, obviously cooked beforehand, is delicious. Here, seafood is everywhere, and we wash it all down with the best white wine, the one from here, the famous Albariño.
But we are also fortunate to try more treasures of the sea, at friends' houses, the famous barnacles (percebes, in Spanish), small, ugly black animals, which really taste like the sea, very difficult to catch, stuck to the inaccessible rocks of the raging coast, and that's why they are expensive, but here it's easier to find them. They attract attention because they seem like food from another world, but eating in La Coruña makes us even more aware of the essence of the sea in this magical place.