La Coruña
We berthed on the Real Club Náutico de Coruña pontoons for 4 nights. We met some Irishmen taking a boat back home from Turkey in fits and starts between their work, they work one month on one month off on oil rigs. They were out to party, very friendly, they borrowed various items from us as they had some electrical problems.
We found very few locals spoke any English.
Had freshly caught mullet for tea one night.
On the first day we wandered along the road past a hotel where Elaine obtained a map, and went on to get some lunch in a local restaurant where we somehow ended up with baby squid and chicken wings, which were greasy, but very nice. Walked back through Plaza de Maria Pita which cried out for some photos but we had no camera. We walked back along the main road by a fountain, where Dan managed to fall completely in during a moment of inattention and got thoroughly soaked from top to bottom! All I had spare for Dan was a fleece jacket and a nappy, so that was how we proceeded. We got strange looks from everybody, and I had all Dan’s clothes hanging to dry from various parts of my rucksack! On the way back we passed the Post Office with telephone service so decided to go in to get a pay as you go number. Nobody spoke a word of English. The large hall was virtually empty except for what must have been at least a dozen desks with a member of staff in place at each one, and finally one of the staff led us to a desk at the other end of the hall which did indeed appear to sell pay as you go top up cards etc. We ended up with Movistar card which cost 60 Euros but with no idea how much of that was spendable. We found out that it would also work in Portugal but I suspected this would be on roaming tariffs. We got a manual in Spanish which I have learned a small amount from in subsequent reading but still remain very much in the dark. We walked back along the front where we wanted to get a tram, but it was full, and of course Dan was dressed only in a fleece and nappy. We decided to do the tram the next day.
On the second day we visited the Castillo de St Antonio which was next to our marina, a star shaped castle with museum, and took lots of photos. Very lovely old castle although not Nigel’s thing. We failed to get a tram which we had promised Daniel after we had seen a couple of them while walking back from the fountain episode the previous day. We waited for 45 minutes but no tram, so we walked into town and had lunch overlooking the new marina. Then found the Plaza de Maria Pita again, this time armed with a camera – and took photos of the large building with a very impressive copper roof. Then we found a fruiterers instead of the supermarket we were looking for. We bought various items including some delicious strawberries, which we ate during our subsequent walk into the hilly old town with lovely narrow streets. We found our way back to a hill overlooking our marina – very beautiful.
Back at the boat we arranged with the marina staff for a man to come so we could get some new batteries (lorry batteries for our engine and domestic supply). The man didn’t speak English but somehow we managed to exchange quite a bit of information about the batteries. They ended up costing 440 Euros for the two – so not the cheapest day.
We missed the tram again so went for a walk.
Third day we were advised of a computer shop where we could buy a cable for connecting to a local phone line, so we got a taxi to the Palacio de Congresos Opera and found the right shop, who made the cable up for us very cheaply. Then we enjoyed a walk in the Parque de Santa Margarita – gardens between the Opera and the Planetarium, and found a stall right next to the kids’ playground which sold both beer and ice creams – perfect! Then found a different stall where we got a cheap and pleasant lunch among a lot of old men playing some kind of cards league as well as some other games. We were entertained by a little girl riding a toddler car at very high speed down the hill with great expertise!
Walked back down the street where we went for a coffee and a bit of afternoon snack, then got a taxi (lazy) back to the boat – again very cheap.
Fourth day Elaine tried to get our email, and as the club wouldn’t let us use the phone line Elaine used the mobile instead. As we had a desperate need to surf the internet to check our bank accounts, and with some problems sending email this took a long time and was very frustrating and expensive. Next time will use an internet café.