With Moe patched up and having enjoyed a pleasant evening in one of the bungalows, we headed North to Camping Los Manzanos, near Santa Cruz but on the opposite side of the estuary to A Coruna. We had managed to secure three nights in one of their stone bungalows. Fairly basic accomodation but we had comfortable beds, nice en-suite wetroom and most importantly, Moe didn’t have to try and clamber into bed in the pop-top with her swollen, but un-broken wrists!
A Coruna was added to our tour on the recommentdations of Ellie at Camping La Vouga. She described it as a far prettier place than Santiago and one we should visit. Camping Loz Manzanos was her personal recommendation.
After checking into the “stone bungalow”, we walked into the centre of Santa Cruz and explored the town’s castle. Although Santa Cruz is a town in its own right, its main claim to fame is a small fortified island some 50 metres or so off shore which you can reach by foot bridge. After exploring the castle grounds, we retired to a local hostelry for a drinks.
On our first full day here, we caught the bus from Santa Cruz to A Coruna which was fairly regular and the journey took just half an hour. Once in A Coruna, we caught another bus to the Torre de Hercules. This is probably the most famous monument in A Coruna and is the oldest known Roman lighthouse, constructed in the 1st century. The tower is located some 2.5km from the centre of A Coruna on a peninsular north of the city.
The lighthouse, standing atop a skull and crossbones representing the buried head of Hercules’ slain enemy, appears in the coat of arms of the city of A Coruna.
Throughout the Middle Ages, multiple naval crusading itineraries to the Holy Land mentioned the obligatory stopover at the Lighthouse. Usually, the crusader fleets would disembark there to reach the shrine of the Apostle James the Greater at Santiago de Compostela on foot.
After viewing the tower, we walked around the peninsular before eventually heading back to Santa Cruz. We were somewhat under-whelmed with A Coruna at this juncture.
Sunday evening we ate at the restuarant associated with the campsite and ordered steaks. Moe had the sirloin whilst I had Entrecote with a mushroom sauce. The Tiramasu we shared afterwards was equally as enjoyable as the steaks – all washed down with a couple of glasses of red wine from Galicia.
Monday we decided to head back to A Coruna for a stroll along the harbour and then lunch in the old town. This time we found a much prettier side to A Coruna and just off the tourist track, we found an amazing Spanish restaurant. We were of course early arrivals but within an hour or so every table was full both inside and outside and we enjoyed the menu of the day which was around 12 Euros each. They even gave us a bottle of white wine – total price for the three courses, 27 euros for the two of us! The restaurant was Meson La Rueda, on Rua Capitain Troncoso.
The other “odd” architectural side of A Coruna and the wider Galicia region is the glass balconies. Many buildings were built with balconies but due to the weather and atlantic storms these weren’t usable for much of the year. The solution was to encase the balconies in glass and many of these structures are quite remarkable.
