A Coruña, Spain

Today we were in the north of Spain and as the old saying goes, “the rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain.” We had to have been on the plain because it never stopped raining all day long. Not fun to go exploring when you’re getting pelted by heavy winds and sideways rain.  Today we had another long excursion, 7 1/2 hours, to see two sites and have lunch. Otherwise, it was a lot of bus riding. The best part was that we were on a bus that had about 19 people so we were able to spread out.

We drove along the Costa de Morte (Death Coast) that fronts the Atlantic in the Galicia region. The coast is named for the tragic fact that hundreds of ships have run around on its rocky shores. Since the 14th century over 600 ships have sunk with huge loss of life.  This area is notorious for having strong currents and crashing waves. It is wild and rugged, and it was on display today. Here you will see unspoiled nature, beautiful beaches, shipwrecks, oil spills and sheltered villages. We stopped at Muxie, a small fishing village along the coast and stopped to see a church dedicated to Virxe da Barca (virgin of the boat) which has lots of religious meaning.

Our second stop was to Finisterre, the medieval “end of the Earth.“ This lighthouse overlooking the Atlantic Ocean was originally a Roman lighthouse, but over the centuries it has been replaced several times.  The current lighthouse was built in 1853.  

This monolith is in memory of the Galatian people who cleaned up a massive oil spill when the oil tanker, Prestige, split in half off the coast in rough seas in 2002.  It is 35 feet high.

I guess the highlight of the day was lunch. We went to a hotel/resort that had a huge banquet room. Four loads of Vikings invaded and did not even come close to filling the room. The service was fast and efficient, and it was quite a nice meal. Here are the details:

Look at the size of this dinner roll!

Lunch menu

Fish soup

After lunch, it was a one and a half hour bus ride back to the ship in the pouring rain.