La Coruna, Galicia
The seaport of La Coruna is at the northwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula. It is one of the foremost European fishing ports in Europe and it was here that the Endeavour docked early afternoon after a calm passage along the north coast of Spain.
Our coach trip embraced the verdant Galician countryside, rain in summer, autumn, winter and spring! Our visit was blessed with sunshine. We participated in a short walking tour of the town of Betzanos. The focus was a visit to the medieval church. A 14th century structure, ravaged in the 1930s, presented the austerity and energy of that belief system through one feature: a stone coffin of a wealthy benefactor fashioned of stone in armorial dress, supported by a stone carved bear and wild boar. These beasts, part of the armorial emblem of the family, harked back to the pre-Christian world where, in particular, a pre-Roman Iron Age cult revered such forest animals.
This land of rias (drowned river valleys) almost hides its history of castros (Iron Age hillforts) thousands of which are now clothed in eucalyptus forest. The Romans were at La Coruna, the current lighthouse reflects its two thousand year-old predecessor; even the Vikings attacked here in the ninth century. In the context of deep history, Sir Walter Raleigh’s attentions and the Peninsular War pale in significance.
The seaport of La Coruna is at the northwestern corner of the Iberian Peninsula. It is one of the foremost European fishing ports in Europe and it was here that the Endeavour docked early afternoon after a calm passage along the north coast of Spain.
Our coach trip embraced the verdant Galician countryside, rain in summer, autumn, winter and spring! Our visit was blessed with sunshine. We participated in a short walking tour of the town of Betzanos. The focus was a visit to the medieval church. A 14th century structure, ravaged in the 1930s, presented the austerity and energy of that belief system through one feature: a stone coffin of a wealthy benefactor fashioned of stone in armorial dress, supported by a stone carved bear and wild boar. These beasts, part of the armorial emblem of the family, harked back to the pre-Christian world where, in particular, a pre-Roman Iron Age cult revered such forest animals.
This land of rias (drowned river valleys) almost hides its history of castros (Iron Age hillforts) thousands of which are now clothed in eucalyptus forest. The Romans were at La Coruna, the current lighthouse reflects its two thousand year-old predecessor; even the Vikings attacked here in the ninth century. In the context of deep history, Sir Walter Raleigh’s attentions and the Peninsular War pale in significance.
