Galicia
La Coruña
27/11/06 10:23
Interior Teatro Rosalie Castro
The Photo Man - Calle Real
Cabo Villano
Off Sada - First Outing of revised Ghosting Genoa
A Coruña - Maria Pita Square
Weekend Trip - Day 2 - Cabo Villano - Laxe - Punta Roncudo - Malpica
05/11/06 18:32
First stop today is Cabo Villano which was the first land sighted when I crossed from Plymouth to Lisbon some years ago. The area is a bit more built up than Finisterre with a wind farm and surprisingly a Stolt fish farm tucked away on the coast just to the south of the cape.
The cape itself is very dramatic with light perched on a highpoint with cliffs plunging into the sea. Immediatly to the west is a tiny vicious looking island.
Lighthouse building with lighthouse behind.
Cabo Villano seen from NE
A small lighthouse was established on this site in 1854. The wreck of the "Serpent" (of which more later) in 1890 accelerated a project to build a larger lighthouse and in 1896 the new Cabo Villano lighthouse became the first in Spain to use electricity.
A few miles up the coast there is a cemetry in which some of the crew lost in the wreck of HMS Serpent are buried. More on this wreck here and here.
It is a nasty piece of coast and only two of the crew made it ashore alive.
Site of HMS Serpent wreck showing off lying shoals.
A view of the shoals from sea level.
A bit further around the coast I came across I tiny fishing port called Santa Marina. It was reached via a steepnarrow winding road and had recently been rebuilt with EU funding. A fascinating place and frightening to enter from the sea with a narrow rockstrewn approach. It was not on the map.
Next stop was the fishing port of Laxe. It would be interesting to visit here in the spring although it would be necessary to anchor. On the way out of Laxe I came across a strange partially destroyed structure called the Museo Alemand whih had been built by an eccentric German.
Museo de Aleman
Museo de Aleman
After Laxe it was a long drive around the bay to Punta Roncudo. Another dramatic spot on the Costa del Muerte with a couple of nasty offlying rocks. This coast features many crosses set into rocks in memory of those lost at sea. The tanker "Prestige" broke up at sea off this coast a few years ago dumping 60,000 tonnes of heavy fuel onto the shoreline.
Punta Roncudo lighthouse.
View to seaward with offlying rocks.
Oil residue from the "Prestige" disaster contrasting with white quartz strip.
Last stop on the way back to La Coruña is Malpica. Built on a peninsular with a nice beach to the west and a fishing harbour to the east. Not much else of note and it's not really suitable for yachts.
Malpica beach.
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The cape itself is very dramatic with light perched on a highpoint with cliffs plunging into the sea. Immediatly to the west is a tiny vicious looking island.
Lighthouse building with lighthouse behind.
Cabo Villano seen from NE
A small lighthouse was established on this site in 1854. The wreck of the "Serpent" (of which more later) in 1890 accelerated a project to build a larger lighthouse and in 1896 the new Cabo Villano lighthouse became the first in Spain to use electricity.
A few miles up the coast there is a cemetry in which some of the crew lost in the wreck of HMS Serpent are buried. More on this wreck here and here.
It is a nasty piece of coast and only two of the crew made it ashore alive.
Site of HMS Serpent wreck showing off lying shoals.
A view of the shoals from sea level.
A bit further around the coast I came across I tiny fishing port called Santa Marina. It was reached via a steepnarrow winding road and had recently been rebuilt with EU funding. A fascinating place and frightening to enter from the sea with a narrow rockstrewn approach. It was not on the map.
Next stop was the fishing port of Laxe. It would be interesting to visit here in the spring although it would be necessary to anchor. On the way out of Laxe I came across a strange partially destroyed structure called the Museo Alemand whih had been built by an eccentric German.
Museo de Aleman
Museo de Aleman
After Laxe it was a long drive around the bay to Punta Roncudo. Another dramatic spot on the Costa del Muerte with a couple of nasty offlying rocks. This coast features many crosses set into rocks in memory of those lost at sea. The tanker "Prestige" broke up at sea off this coast a few years ago dumping 60,000 tonnes of heavy fuel onto the shoreline.
Punta Roncudo lighthouse.
View to seaward with offlying rocks.
Oil residue from the "Prestige" disaster contrasting with white quartz strip.
Last stop on the way back to La Coruña is Malpica. Built on a peninsular with a nice beach to the west and a fishing harbour to the east. Not much else of note and it's not really suitable for yachts.
Malpica beach.
Read More...
Weekend Trip - Day 1 - Santiago - Ponte Maceira - Finisterre - Camarinas
04/11/06 16:35
I've only been out of La Coruña once since I arrived so today I've hired a car and am off touring.
First stop Santiago di Compostella. My second visit and this time I stay away from the churches and explore the labyrinth of old narrow streets to the west of the main visitor attractions. Bordering on this part of the town is a quiet park from where the first radio broadcast in Galicia was made.
Park in Santiago di Compostella
After stopping for a coffee it's back into the car and drive west to Ponte Maceira. My first teacher at Paralaia, Marga, suggested this tiny village was worth a visit. It's well hidden only just making it onto my Michelin map on the smallest category of road. She was not wrong. It's a beautiful place. Tiny and very quiet. The only people I saw were pilgrims passing through. What appeared to be the only restaurant had closed for the season.
Large house overlooking the bridge at Ponte Maceira
View of the bridge from upstream.
The bridge is the dominant feature of Ponte Maceira and such is the volume of water in the river in winter that the arches have been submerged. More pictures of Ponte Maceira here.
After leaving Ponte Maceira a narrow road more or less followed the Rio Tambre down to a larger road leading to Muros. I turned off this road onto a scenic route which was not on the map. Passing through very hilly countryside I passed this little stream....
....and eventually popped out on the road to Muros.
I was going to Cabo Finisterre and followed the coast road round through Muros, Carnota, Cee and Corbucion.
Cabo Finisterre in the distance.
Cabo Finisterre has a lot of visitors and the grounds were being landscaped and re-paved at the time of my visit. It was considered the end of the known world before Columbus. In fact it isn't or wasn't. The western most point of Europe is in Portugal and that of Spain is a few miles further north. Nonetheless it is a dramatic spot with lovely views all round.
Looking NE from the cape. A secluded anchorage near some attractive beaches. I will try to stop here on my way south.
The end of the world?
Cabo Finisterre lighthouse.
Front entrance of lighthouse with work in progress.
Self on Cape Finisterre.
By now it was getting late in the afternoon. I drove back round the coast to Cee then north to Camarinas where I got a room at the Hostel Gaviota.
First stop Santiago di Compostella. My second visit and this time I stay away from the churches and explore the labyrinth of old narrow streets to the west of the main visitor attractions. Bordering on this part of the town is a quiet park from where the first radio broadcast in Galicia was made.
Park in Santiago di Compostella
After stopping for a coffee it's back into the car and drive west to Ponte Maceira. My first teacher at Paralaia, Marga, suggested this tiny village was worth a visit. It's well hidden only just making it onto my Michelin map on the smallest category of road. She was not wrong. It's a beautiful place. Tiny and very quiet. The only people I saw were pilgrims passing through. What appeared to be the only restaurant had closed for the season.
Large house overlooking the bridge at Ponte Maceira
View of the bridge from upstream.
The bridge is the dominant feature of Ponte Maceira and such is the volume of water in the river in winter that the arches have been submerged. More pictures of Ponte Maceira here.
After leaving Ponte Maceira a narrow road more or less followed the Rio Tambre down to a larger road leading to Muros. I turned off this road onto a scenic route which was not on the map. Passing through very hilly countryside I passed this little stream....
....and eventually popped out on the road to Muros.
I was going to Cabo Finisterre and followed the coast road round through Muros, Carnota, Cee and Corbucion.
Cabo Finisterre in the distance.
Cabo Finisterre has a lot of visitors and the grounds were being landscaped and re-paved at the time of my visit. It was considered the end of the known world before Columbus. In fact it isn't or wasn't. The western most point of Europe is in Portugal and that of Spain is a few miles further north. Nonetheless it is a dramatic spot with lovely views all round.
Looking NE from the cape. A secluded anchorage near some attractive beaches. I will try to stop here on my way south.
The end of the world?
Cabo Finisterre lighthouse.
Front entrance of lighthouse with work in progress.
Self on Cape Finisterre.
By now it was getting late in the afternoon. I drove back round the coast to Cee then north to Camarinas where I got a room at the Hostel Gaviota.