Notable Times: Europe 3: Las Catedrales, A Coruña

In Spain and Italy, they use electrical outlets of type C (two pins) and F (like C but an extra ground pin in the middle), so I got some little adapters.

I also got a handy adapter that handles U.S. "type A/B" (two/three prong) plugs, and has two USB charging ports built in. So with that and another USB charger, I could charge a whole mess of stuff.

On Wednesday, June 29, 2022, we left Oviedo and headed west through more of lush, green Asturias and Galicia. Mari and Nico told us that in this area you can buy a farm with a house on it for €50,000. Given how ridiculous house prices have gotten in our area, I said, "Huh. Maybe we'll sell our house and come here and buy 10!"

The homes and farms were so beautiful! I absolutely loved this area.

We stopped from time to time to make sure one of the tires had enough air in it.

Then it was back to seeing more green countryside.

Las Catedrales

Our first big stop that day was at Las Catedrales (="The Cathedrals"), which is a section of beach where there are big rocks with caves and arches, where you can explore during low tide, but not during high tide.

It was a little chilly there, so we all wore jackets.

The mist and springs kept these rocks green and mossy.

Soon we were dipping our toes in the ocean.

There were cool caves all along the rocks.

Here's a video of walking into one of the caves. It reminded me of the movie "The Rescuers" when the girl is down in the cave while the tide is coming in.

Here are Sienna and Linette, as seen from inside the cave.

Mari led us around the first cliff to an outcropping of rock.

She took a picture from there as we sloshed through the growing tide to reach her.

At low tide, you can walk for about a kilometer around all these cliffs, but we got there about two hours late, so the tide was starting to come in (it's about 6 hours from low tide to high tide).

Still, we saw some pretty cool colors in these caves!

It was a magical place.

You could see where wood got left by earlier high tides. We weren't sure if we could go that way, though (turns out, yep), so we went back the way we came.

Here's a reflection of Linette at the entrance to this cave.

Nico informed us that it was time to head back before the tide made that dangerous, so we waded and climbed our way back around.

It was already a bit higher than when we started.

The water was pleasantly cool, but not freezing (more like San Diego than Oregon).

What a beautiful place!

Next, we walked along the boardwalk to see some other views from above.

This overlook was a nice place for a portrait.

The gals changed into drier clothes, and then we continued on our way to A Coruña, enjoying the green countryside of Galicia as we went.

A Coruña

A Coruña (as it is called in Galician, or "La Coruña" in Spanish) is the largest city in Galicia, and is situated near the northwest corner of Spain. It was inhabited by Celtic tribes anciently. Romans came to the region in the 2nd century B.C., and Julius Caesar went there in 62 B.C. to get into the metal trade, establishing commerce with what is now France, England and Portugal. It grew for a couple hundred years until the Vikings scared people inland in the 4th century A.D. There were also Norman and Viking raids up through the 9th century, so a fortress was built in 991 to defend the area. In 1208, Alfonso IX re-founded the city of Crunia, and it grew from there.

When we got to town, we found a parking spot and checked into our AirBnB, and then went in search of food. Isabel was aware of an all-you-can-eat deal at Domino's, so we did that, and it was great.

They let us have some balloons on our way out, so here Mari is, proudly presenting balloons to the niñas.

Here's a brief video of Linette attempting a sneak attack in a balloon war with Sienna and Isabel. But who will be victorious?

The front room of our AirBnB was very colorful. Isabel and Sienna had had a long day already.

It was really starting to show...

But, hey! No time to rest! There's a whole country to explore! So we headed out to check out the town.

There was a little park overlooking the ocean where everyone brought their dogs, so we had fun playing with the dogs for a bit.

Then we headed towards the old part of town.

There were some pretty hydrangeas along one road.

We saw the church of San Nicolas (not Santa Claus, but rather, the patron saint of sailors), but it was closed, so we didn't go in.

The gals really enjoyed checking out an artist's shop, and ordered some shoes for the gal to paint for them.

Meanwhile, we checked out the main plaza in town. It was named after María Pita, who was a heroine in the defense of A Coruña when the English armada attacked the Spanish mainland in 1589. The English had already taken control of the lower city and breached the defenses of the old city. María Pita was assisting her husband, an army captain who was manning the defenses. An English commander held a banner as he led the assault to the highest part of the wall. María Pita was full of rage as she snatched the spear carrying the banner from the English commander and killed him with it. This demoralized the 12,000 English troops, who began to retreat.

María's husband was killed by a crossbow bolt that struck him in the head. She then appeared on the wall herself, shouting, "Whoever has honor, follow me!" (Galician: "Quen tenha honra, que me siga!") At that point, the defenders drove back the English, who eventually abandoned the siege and withdrew to their ships. Other women also participated in the defense. So she was basically Wonder Woman.

Here's the back of another cute church. I like the rounded walls.

We sat for a moment in a small park shaded by large sycamore trees.

I looked up just as the torch lamp of this statue lit up.

While the gals went to check on the progress of their painted shoes, Nico and I walked down to take a peek at the harbor.

He said that the red boats were fishing boats.

The girls loved their painted shoes, with scenes from around A Coruña, including María Pita. The artist said that when she was little, she used to like to paint, but would get in trouble for getting paint on her pants and such. Then one day she thought maybe she should paint her pants on purpose. Now she has her own shop and does that sort of thing for a living. She was a delightful gal.

That evening, back at the AirBnB, we played a round of "Canadian Sadness" (originally Canadian Salad Bowl or Canadian Fruit Salad; but Canadian Sadness better captured the despair you feel during the game). Isabel wasn't doing well, but we reassured her that half of all of the dreaded points are doled out in the final round. Unfortunately, she was the one who got most of them and was destroyed.

Nico was victorious. (Then in the next round, Isabel took first place and I believe it was my turn to feel the bitterness of a deep Canadian winter).

The next day we had all day to explore A Coruña.

As we walked towards the aquarium, we saw these funky light posts that have various things on them, including all the zodiac symbols. Isabel is a Pisces.

We spent the morning at the aquarium. In the distance you can see the Tower of Hercules, where we went afterwards.

I was a little intrigued with the cuttlefish.

I was also fascinated by the flat fish that swam "sideways" along the ocean floor. Unlike a manta ray, it had a fin on the bottom, and a funny mouth on the very side. Evolution seemed to move its other eye up and around, but it was very strange.

Here's what it looks like (or almost doesn't look like) hidden among the sandy bottom.

And here's a 5 second video of what it looks like swimming by.

Nico put a "buck" (Euro) in the machine and drove one of the boats around, giving me a minute to try it out as well.

One of the most fascinating things there was the octopus.

It was very active and grotesque.

As you can hear in the video below, Sienna said, "I'm both repulsed and...intrigued...?"

And if you, too, are intrigued, here's a little bit closer view of some more gyrations.

At noon, we went over to see the feeding of the seals.

The seals would hop up onto the platforms and wiggle their way over to the people, who would feed them and check on them.

Here's a quick video showing a couple of the seals jumping up on deck and wiggling into position.

It wasn't an amazing show, but it was nice to gather and watch that for a bit.

And then, sadly, Isa and Sienna got eaten(!).

Speaking of which, the big tank downstairs had sharks and other big fish that swam in a constant circle around the whole room.

I recently saw an earth documentary where they showed a time lapse video of sea anemones and while it seems like they're anchored in place, it turns out that they crawl around over time!

This seemed like the happiest fish ever!

After the aquarium, we walked around a little bay to climb the Tower of Hercules.

This is the oldest existing lighthouse in the world. It was built by the Romans in the 1st century A.D., and has been in continuous use as a lighthouse since the 2nd century.

There used to be a ramp around the outside, where you can still see the diagonal lines. The lighthouse was carefully renovated in 1791, removing the remaining remnants of the outer ramp but preserving the inner Roman core.

We had to wait a while for our turn to go up the tower, since only so many people are allowed inside at once. But the view was great while we waited. (I struck up a conversation with a nice couple from Germany while we waited. They spoke English better than either of us spoke Spanish.)

Once inside, one of the first things we saw was the ancient Roman foundation.

The ceiling was really low in there, so I had to hunch over. Sienna was just fine.

The tower is 180 feet (55m) high, including the fourth story that was added during the renovation.

So up we hiked.

Up and up and round and round.

At the landing of each "story", there were displays that talked about the tower, the birds in the area, etc.

Finally we reached the top and had a great view of the area.

The final tower loomed above us and provided shade.

Oh, no! Poor Sienna!

There was a big compass mosaic by the shore.

Then it was time to head back down.

Here's a quick time lapse video of the last half of the trip down.

Afterwards Sienna was starving, so we ate at one of the first restaurants we found.

To go along with the octopus theme of the day, Linette ate one.

That afternoon, the girls returned to an art place and made woven rings.

The adults went to the beach for a bit, because it seemed silly come all this way to the coast and not go to the beach once.

Here I am helping Linette make her way into the water. So nice of me!

The sand was sort of course there, so it kind of hurt my wussy feet, and the waves were powerful enough that we didn't go all the way in and swim, but it was fun to play in the water.

Linette and Mari went to check on the girls and their craft project, while Nico and I sat on a blanket at the beach and read and talked. There was nobody to translate for us, so I just had to buck up and communicate. We did ok, as far as I know. :)

The girls were shopping for beads, and suddenly they heard bagpipes, so they went outside to see what was going on.

Apparently there was a little parade going on. It turns out that bagpipes and drums are traditional instruments in Galicia and other areas of northern Spain. Here's a little video of the parade as it went by.

The girls eventually decided not to join us at the beach, so we went home to change and rest up for a bit. Then we went to a great restaurant. (Sienna didn't want to wait until 10pm to eat, so she ate some leftovers, and she really enjoyed some personal time while the rest of us went to eat).

A person on the street told us that it would be a long wait to get a table, but at the same time, Isabel walked inside and said, "Can we sit here?" and we were in!

People put coins in the rough stone on the walls. The tradition is that if you put a coin there, then it means you're coming back.

We tried a bunch of great sea food. Usually that's not my thing, but I tried everything, and I actually enjoyed it all.

The bread at the tables was cut from massive loaves.

There was fried octopus and fries.

And remember the cuttlefish from that morning? Well, it turns out you can eat them.

We really enjoyed our culinary experience. At the end, I ordered a lemon sorbet (the closest thing to ice cream that they had). The guy brought it and then said, "One more thing..." He came back over with some champagne to add to it, and he was so disappointed when I told him I couldn't have that, because he was trying to be extra nice to us.

It was fun to try all the fancy local food.

The bay looked beautiful as we walked back to our apartment at 11:30pm.

I was in the sun at the beach for several hours that day without enough sunblock. Sienna thought it was so funny that I got a tan line on my "hair swooshie."