Is a fascinating Spanish port city. Located along a western inlet it was just a short sail up the inlet. I haven’t been here before, but it is one of those close launching points for those planning hiking Jakob’s Web (the Spanish is escaping me at the moment, but I am sure that Brad or Cheré who have both hiked the trail and served as volunteers in the past can provide).
Docking here is essentially at City Center so no buses or transit time needs to be considered as you hike into the city. There are museums, stores, a shopping center complete with casino right there within a 100 meters or so of the cruise terminal.
Disembarking, we just headed up the hill. Hello? Successful port cities, usually along the last portion of a river, all of which seem to built on the side of significant hills. This makes sense – flat and easy access = subject to flooding.
The city looks like the holiday decorations are in the process of being installed. Catholic area, the range runs from religious to reindeer and snowmen with a lot of twinkling lights involved. If you want to head to the highest point where there is this statue of five horses,
you can walk up the center section in these covered shelters or take the glides.
Walk lights at all intersections cycle, there are no call buttons to press.
Miriam reminded me when we were at the top of Fortaleza de O Castro looking down to the old city, the port, and the newer, fancier shopping area that this is Galcia, it is much more Basque than it is Spanish. As in most places, there are some lovely historical plaques describing the origins of the fort and the history which is mostly from the 1500s. I can read some Spanish, the second language was the local dialect which seemed to me to be closer to Portuguese than Spanish.
The fort looks like most of the forts of this era – heavy stone with the basic shape at the top being the usual star shape with several layers as the height of the hill increases. Some extremely old rusty cannons, and a small pond on the side…
Looking down at the port, it is obvious how appaulting large this ship is.
I skipped the art museums and headed back to the ship for a very late lunch.
The SAL is now at 75%.
