A short walk in La Coruņa/A Coruņa, Spain
Friend, coworker, fellow traveler, and fellow photographer Dave Sevougian took a picture from his plane of the city that shows very nicely where several of our events took place:
The Hercules Tower is plainly visible, and just to the left of the modernistic tower are some green trees with a pink building beside it, that pink building is where we had our meetings. A few seconds before the above photo was taken he took this one, showing more of the city to the left (the shape of the several harbors is easier to divine from this photo, and Dave's plane is over Santa Cruz at this time):
Here is where we had our meetings, an old military building refurbished to become a university conference center:
The front of the building was very modern, with glass to allow views of the bay from each floor (this picture courtesy of Dave Sevougian):
The views from the conference center into the bay were very nice:
Walking back to the hotel took us past the Napoleonic fortress:
Walking just a little further along the harbor, we can see the hotel we stayed in behind the large seaside pavilion:
Speaking of the hotel, imagine my delight at my room facing a city park:
And imagine my surprise at a concert/dance performance in that park (part of the annual Maria Pita Festival) my first two nights! There were musicians and dancers from Spain, Galicia, South America, Africa and Asia. I'll show one scene each from the Spanish troupe and from a Sri-lankan troupe's performance:
Another way to walk to the hotel is through the city itself, where there is an old church dedicated to the pilgrims heading for Santiago de Compostela:
The center of the town is the square dedicated to the local heroine Maria Pita, who helped drive off the British invasion of 1589:
Maria Pita's statue stands in this square, too big to catch in one photo, so let there be three!
Around the statue's base are several reliefs showing the setting in which she performed her defensive heroic acts. First the invading fleet in the harbor:
Then she is seen at the top of the city wall successfully fending off would be invaders (the opposite of Joan of Arc who was one climbing the walls and prevailing):
Finally, just a few city street scenes to give you a flavor of this very nice and pleasant city where the sidewalks are clean and traffic stops when you enter a crosswalk!!
(Sorry about the lack of quality in the next photo, did not hold camera steady enough, but you get the idea, streets are well lit and busy at night.)
Dave Sevougian had a more steady aim and took a sharper picture of another downtown street at night:
And look who was also here visiting this same week! Wonder Woman (and lots of other super heroes of comic book fame, there was a huge international comic book fair in town).
Dave found Spiderman climbing a pole in the city at night, can you spot him?
An evening ride to see lighthouses, a beach and a castle at Santa Cruz, Spain.
A very old lighthouse on a Roman foundation
A visit to mile zero on the Camino: Cabo Finisterre, end of known world
An A Coruņa harbor cruise
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