Tip of a Peninsula (with Lighthouses), Beaches, a Castle and Santa Cruz
On our second evening after work our Spanish hosts took us to a nearby peninsula facing the open ocean on one side, hence its lighthouses, and facing the bay of A Coruņa on the other side where there was a beach (several beaches really) and a small castle on a small island, and a very nice town called Santa Cruz.
David Sevougian, co-worker and fellow-traveler, took a photo from his plane prior to its landing and captured this same peninsula, the first one of three fingers on the right (marvelous shot, Dave!). It also shows the beach visited that evening (the last one on the right). On the left is the Hercules Tower and a portion of A Coruņa:
Tip of a Peninsula (with Lighthouses)
It is a funny thing, but although there were several lighthouses on this peninsula, I got so enamored with the views out to the ocean that I almost forgot to snap pictures of them. But it is OK, a day later we do a boat ride that takes us to near this same place and I get plenty of lighthouse pictures! This is the only lighthouse in this series, looking north.
I am easily fascinated by lone rocks getting pounded by waves for many thousands of years.
That's enough looking north. To the northeast, an inlet divides the tip of the peninsula in two. Note that we are not in the wilderness by any means, people live here:
If we look straight south to the tip of the land that hosts the city of La Coruņa, we see the Hercules Tower, an old lighthouse with Roman foundations. We will visit it just a few evenings later. Oh, and here is another of the lighthouses on this peninsula:
The above photo makes it look like there is not much distance between the lighthouses, but that it because it was taken with 3 times magnification. By contrast, here is a view toward the city of La Coruņa with, and then without, magnification:
It does make a difference. The next view if of some plants on the peninsula:
And the last view is of the sea below the cliffs facing west:
Beaches
OK, there were people on the beaches, some wearing very little, and it would have been very rude to take their pictures, so here are several views looking out into the bay from the beach (I promise some beach photos later):
Not satisfied? OK, one more, these were the trees where we parked, simply magnificent creatures!
a Castle
This castle guards the entrance to the harbor of Santa Cruz:
Walking to the north side of the castle showed me the sun was setting:
A low sun makes for low light, my favorite:
The same low light that lit up that wall also lit up the rocky seashore below:
And it also nicely lit up the city of Santa Cruz where we had a dinner (under those green umbrellas that look like trees to the left) and watched the sun set completely:
The view from the castle to the area south of Santa Cruz was also rewarding:
and Santa Cruz
We walked through Santa Cruz on the way to the castle:
And you just saw Santa Cruz from the castle. So now that we are back from the castle you get to look toward the castle from Santa Cruz. First the south side of the castle-island:
Next the center of the castle-island (with the Hercules Tower in the background right):
Finally the north end of the castle-island:
Those of us who love sunsets were leaving the dinner table at times for scenes like these:
Co-worker and co-photographer Dave Sevougian caught these two later sunset pictures: way to go Dave!
Given a delightful dinner with great company in this beautiful setting, it was a great end to a great day in Galicia.
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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