La Coruna

Wednesday 27^th November

This is the first time that Queen Victoria has visited La Coruna. Vigo is the normal port of call. I cynically suspect that La Coruna is a cheaper mooring port and that is why we are trying it. It is also within easy access to Santiago de Compostela, which is the main drawing card for Vigo. Having visited Santiago recently (in the pouring rain) I felt no need to return.

My friends decided to hit the shops at 10am but I needed to sleep in. I left after midday (seeing we had the full day in port) and wandered the town. I decided not to follow a map but just to see where the streets led me. I only stayed out for a couple of hours but that was enough.

One feature of La Coruna that I had read about was its glazed window balconies, called galerias, designed for rainy days. I read that it was a naval architecture solution to the challenging weather: use the shape of the back of a war ship in a modern building. The gallerias were smaller than I had expected. There must have been enough room for a chair or two, but it did not look like it from the street.