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France/Spain 2011
Day 11 - 27th March - Tower of Hercules (Part 3)
The next stop was the Tower of Hercules, a former Roman lighthouse from the first century still in use today. In fact it's the oldest lighthouse around.
We skipped one monastery (Monasterio de Samos) as it was not onthe way and would've been a large detour (there were also no big roads near it - not according to the GPS). We could see more of the coast this way.
Opening hours. In July and August it's open till 11:45pm on Fridays and Saturdays!
Sculpture of what appears to be a fat man, and tower in the distance
Tower and approach
Missing person sign. Apparently he got lost on the road to Santiago. Strangely his weight is listed. Even more strangely, no name is provided.
Tower and ramp
Desperate attempt to promote other attractions. From my observations it wasn't very successful.
Celtic cliffs
The wet path to the lighthouse
UNESCO plaque in... Latin?! Maybe this was to underline the tower's origins. Or because they didn't have enough space to squeeze in Spanish, Galician, English and French - so they chose a language no one spoke.
In July and August they take a 15 minute break between 8:45pm and 9pm. Uhh...
Notice also that admission is free for "people suffering any physical or psychical handicap". In other words, if you are unable to climb up the Tower, you will get to go into the Tower for free. Splendid.
"No Hay Ascensor"
What have the Romans ever done for us?
Presumably this is Hercules
"Sea routes of the Roman Empire"
Timeline
Roman foundations
Amazingly, 56% of the Tower is still composed of Roman stone. The Roman building was 44.2m high. Now it's 56.7m.
It and Dover Castle are the only Roman lighthouses surviving till today. This sounds less impressive when you consider that Mare Nostrum was always more important.
Engraving of Tower from 1788
About the rooms
Roman Cupola (I think)
Window
Coast view
Camera stitch
Cold Panorama
The Compass Rose is a fanciful symbol of the "8" Celtic peoples (the Galicians are thrown in to complete the rose).
Coast
Birds
Birds Above Lighthouse 1
Birds Above Lighthouse 2
View from below
Door
Girls posing
Birds and tower
Tower and approach
Statue of Breogán (a mythical Celtic king)
Bounding dog
Guy hanging off street lamp
Guy and dog
Dog
English is less important than the Spanish (Galician takes pride of place), even though the Galician is almost identical to the Spanish.
At a news stand nearby, I saw the first porn I'd seen in Spain. It had also been rare in Italy - perhaps it was a Catholic country thing.
There was an ice cream van near the Tower, but there didn't seem to be an ice cream culutre in Spain - this was the first non-Walls non-Nestle ice cream I'd seen. Incidentally it was excellent, so after Nata I went back for Naranja, even though it was only March.
In the town of A Coruña (which housed the Tower), there was a Praza de Maria Pita dedicated to a girl who killed the English standard bearer in Francis Drake's 1589 attack (in retaliation for the Armada which had set off from here). Amusingly, there was no monument to the Armada.
We then headed to our abode for the night, in the town of Mera.
Scam shoes. Before this bit the ad had consisted of women walking and jiggling outrageously.
The guy at the hotel was very nice. He let me try some liquours before I ordered a full portion.
In 4 languages, they tell you that complaint forms are available. Well done.
Beach stitch
Guy with very burly dogs
They came up to a man's chest
He let me scratch (I assume my note refers to this and not the next dog below, since that wouldn't have been noteworthy)
There's a set of prices for being at the bar, and one set for being at a table - but none for sitting at the terrace.
Another dog
On the boardwalk
Amusing sign: the water is certified clean, and they have "sanitary facilities, no cleaners on the sand" (no soap is allowed outside of the toilets). They also explicitly track coliform and fecal coliform.
Barking dogs in Oleiros. No surprise that the restaurant was closed.
We managed to find a place open at the insanely early hour ot 7:15pm for dinner, though.
Croquetas Caseras (Homemade Croquettes)
Bread. Which was excellent (wood fired)
Calamares a la andaluza (Andalusian Squid)
Andalusian style seemed to be deep fried with lemon juice. Meh. Incidentally this was identical to Greek style.
Setas con jamon (Mushrooms with ham)
Txistorra con patatas (Txistorra sausage with potatoes)
I asked for empanada con zamburinas (pie with scallops) but just got zamburinas.
Tarta carolina.
It wasn't really flaky, and was too sweet.
On the menu I also saw a blast from the past: Vienetta (the Walls layered cake with the cheesy ad from the 90s)
I'd forgotten to take a picture of the night sky at Santillana del Mar. I was able to see the stars in the sky, even though it wasn't dark all around.
I saw a sign for a zebra crossing which showed a duck crossing the road. Huh.
The rule for Spanish seems to be: if it fits on a small plate, it's tapas. If it's bigger, it's raciones.
Singapore has quite a crap food culture. Overseas I walk into most food places and the quality is okay or better.
