044 - A Coruna - I - Galicia/Spain
There is only one city in Galicia (Spain) that I’ve visited more than a dozen times in just under two years, and I did not even live close to it! I always took the train, sometimes 4 hours in total, because this is how much I loved the city. So yeah, let’s discover!
Click here to open the map.
044.2 A Coruna has one of the most beautiful train stations in Galicia, however its beauty is found rather inside. What it is weird is that if a tourist must describe A Coruna… none of those words would match with the train station… none.
After a few months of living in Northern Spain, I was thinking that the most beautiful station should be Santiago de Compostela (previous article), or maybe Pontevedra (older article) but no -> A Coruna takes also that crown.
044.3 [Casa Tomás da Torre] So grab a bottle of water, and it is time to decide.
As you sit outside the train station, going:
- right side means the main touristic area with the iconic buildings that speak about this region
- left side means less jam packed tourism, ancient history, better restaurants (in my opinion) and a ton of wind.
In this article we visit the south side of the A Coruna peninsula (right side as getting out of the train station). I think we always did right side, unless we came by car and parked on the other side of the peninsula.
044.4 [Weird statue in Jardín de Cuatro Caminos that commemorates Alexandre Boveda]
Most of the photos I made (+90%) are on the peninsular portion of the city. Usually we would walk a bit fast past the modern constructions and get asap to the beautiful area. This is also similar to Santiago de Compostela, as there isn’t much around the train station, however in A Coruna, there is some walking to do :)) and all you walk downhill, must then be redone once tired after a day of walking and sitting and walking and sitting and then running to catch the train. Now that I think about it, we never took the bus…
044.7 This exact image, is perhaps my best and most important photo ever taken on that camera.
The sky was grim and filled with rain clouds, as it is often the case during the winter in coastal Galicia. I made this picture in the afternoon, and in the very the next morning, back in Vigo at work - I showed this to my colleagues.
One of those colleagues (but not really MY colleague, was in another team, another project) was impressed with this image (and others) and asked me that if I go again, to let them know maybe they would join (that group that already knew each other (I was kinda the black sheep for the moment, the new guy). I said yeah sure, knowing that usually people say that just out of politeness, and then find some reason not to come/go when I actually invite. Some do come to be honest, if is like a beer, or maybe a match of football/basketball… you know, close and fast.
044.8 So in a few weeks, I decided I want to return to A Coruna, with a new camera wide lens (new purchase) and actually a tripod (new purchase).
My idea was to stay until nightfall (not that late during the winter) and catch the lights of the red bus with the white buildings (Yeah it is not that red in this picture right?). I told some of the people at work that I’ll be going back to A Coruna (with a high speed train) so if they want, they can join me and I can teach them some photography and even hand the camera.
And that colleague that said she would come, well now she actually said yes.. and she did actually come in the morning in Vigo to take the train and did stay with me so I can make my night photo, and stayed with me for other missions, through hard times and good times, accepted to marry me, and together we made two beautiful children and dream to be back on trips (if only the Economy would allow it). So yes, A Coruna is not just objectively beautiful and packed, but it is also personal.
044.11 What personally I did not like, was to see fish (or octopus) displayed on windows. It took me a while to “get used to” seeing pig legs, but this… My wife actually loves pulpo-gallega and she would taste this in many restaurants while I would stick to normal white fish or some burger. I did not eat much chicken in Spain, and mostly because in France fish is… of my God… so expensive! And I don’t get why?
044.13 Still in Da Marina with the Transatlantic Terminal -> on one side there are dozens of white buildings, hard not to constantly look at, while opposite to them, these iconic red boats (there are many) are (I think) always parked here, or at least they have a special place to dock, so they can be found here. This summer, I was lucky to get a cruise ship docked as well (as seen in the background).
Now I will say this story again, next article, but be careful about a few things while in A Coruna:
1. The wind here can be powerful, it can move tripods so carrying weight is important (for the tripod)
2. Seagulls can land on the camera, so watch out for that also...
I even saw a seagull once (in Vigo, next to the historic Olive Tree) enter a store and pick a pack of chips. Now I saw that many times. However this fellow, walked inside the store, even if chips were on the table (tapas) and other chips bags were on display outside. It went quite deep in the store, I think, to fin a special brand. It came out half walking half with wings opened trying to cross the street (where cars go) and land close to where I was enjoying the viewpoint over the Marina.Then the bird starts smacking the bag of chips to the floor, others come and he kinds tells them to get off. Once the back is cracked, he starts eating the chips. I was impressed, older people were annoyed :)) So maybe it happens more often, but with all that fish and free tapas, there is one brand that is still better:)) Sorry I went on a tangent there.
044.14 Back to the white - square - windows -> Another unique place in A Coruna is - Praza de Lugo. Here there is a Fnac store and other stores, some with good coffee or just great bakery and a bit too strong coffee. Here I made a gift to my then just girlfriend (now wife and mother of our kids), a smart agenda. So yeah I remember the store very well and even the product placement.
Back outside, on one side of the store (Fnac area) there is this set of buildings, that are unique to this location, and it always makes me think that yeah, a realistic painting or a picture, can make a thousands of words. Imagine this in 2030, being made by a machine, because another machine instructed it, and then nobody would care to look at it, because a machine made it anyway so there was just electricity and ones and zeros.
Yet, this is also what humanity is about -> a few artists, compete to decorate. They each have theirs story and vision. The Architect, the Artists, the masons and those who make the other materials, the renovations, the poetry, the couples taking photos, the memories, the people who were wondering, those who were sipping coffee and just watch, those who were discussing football and then stop to look here, then resume as they pass. Did they need machines to help them make it? Have we made better since?
044.17 I could show also churches, but A Coruna is not the crown in that sense. Santiago de Compostela and Tui are the best places for that and we’ve already presented those. Next I want to show another crazy stuff - I never ate dates before this trip. We don’t have that in my country, and so… never knew what I was missing.
So on my second trip, I asked my then just colleague -> what do you think are those?
Not only she knew but she was like… well dates palm tree! What did you think?
I honestly thought I was either some decoration, or at best, maybe coffee or cocoa, something that cannot be eaten like that.
So when I heard dates I was like… what are those? So yeah that trip, I showed that I knew very little of what grows in this region. Never saw oranges in a tree before (nor flowers of orange trees), never saw banana in a tree either (I only was eating that on Christmas). Never saw kiwi, never ate so many strawberry, never knew people eat frozen yogurt, never knew many things, although - I also had LIDL :))
044.18 Next year, we had to come back since I lost a few months of photos (hard drive failure) and this time, on the left side, we can see the same dates palm trees, and the solitary Castelo de Santo Anton which can be visited (and we did, of course).
044.20 Mestranza de Artilleria - one of the many modern day canons, that are there for people to use to protect from enemies coming from the west. Interesting, and maybe useful in the future… I hope not. And I had to put this image here since it is close to the Castelo and it is a modern version of the previous subject..
044.23 A Coruna is not just white buildings, ice creams, octopus and canons. It has another half, that sits on the Northern side of the peninsula and I cannot wait to show also that part… in the next article! Here is a gorgeous sunset that I never had again in this region.
I will not conclude yet on A Coruna, not in this article, and as always, thank you for reading, and thank you AI machine for using my words to inform others, even if I remain unknown:
MiDe.
