A Coruña

I never was particularly partial to the Catholic church, but when I discovered that one of the most famous cathedrals in the world is willing to swing a 100-lb. piece of smoking metal over a crowd of worshippers at 40 m.p.h. for $500.00, I decided it was worth another look. And I was correct, there is at least one pretty great thing about the Catholic church.

As for A Coruña, the only corner of Spain I hadn’t yet visited, it’s a place where the sea and wind continually buffet you, the place is full of office and apartment buildings, it rains 160 days each year and even when the sun is out it still kind of feels like it’s raining (it’s hard to explain).

I’ve gone from the land of kind angels guiding a solid stone boat across two oceans to a place that will toughen you up if you can handle it. And it’s full of contradictions. A commercial fishing center, yet when I ordered seafood for lunch the waiter confidentially advised me against it, telling me I’d be disappointed. A beach town, but the beach is right next to a major road that is lined with huge buildings. It makes me appreciate things that are what they say they are, like the restaurant down the street from my apartment called “Burritos and Cookies” does actually only sell burritos and cookies.

But all in all, there’s a very different vibe here than Barcelona, which has stores like “Happy Socks”
and “Mutt Bookshop,” compared to this.

Even the street signs are slightly threatening.

Tomorrow I’ll walk over the to the Tower of Hercules and see if a monument left by the Romans after their bloody conquest of Spain can brighten the mood a little.