82. A Road Trip - Northern Spain 4

From Santiago de Compostela, where we stayed two nights to recover from our exhausting pilgrimage, we drove to the very far north west point of Spain, to a busy and densely populated area called A Coruna. 

A Coruna takes a battering from the Atlantic Ocean and possibly from the economy too.  Unlike the beautiful and prosperous country we had driven through on our road trip so far, A Coruna felt a little dispirited.

Looking out of our hotel window, across the top of the local sports club with its six pools, this was our first view of the Atlantic.  The day was very warm, beautifully sunny, incredibly glarey and with absolutely no wind.  The hotel staff assured us that this type of day was rare and that we should quickly change into our swimmers and spend the afternoon at the pool.

But we didn't, preferring a walk around the waterfront.  Paul just had to scramble over these rocks to put his foot in the water.  Strangely, it's colder than the Med!

The architecture of this modern maritime communications centre, sitting on the end of one kilometer of man-made sea wall, contrasts starkly with ....

... the Tower of Hercules or Torre de Hércules, an ancient Roman lighthouse on a peninsula about 2.4 kms away. The structure is 55 metres (180 ft) tall and overlooks the North Atlantic coast. The structure, almost 1900 years old, is the oldest Roman lighthouse in use today. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2009 and is the second tallest lighthouse in Spain.

And the food in A Coruna?  

Rick Stein recommended a restaurant for cocina, pig stew, but it was not within walking distance so we settled for a tiny place just inside the walls of the old city, called 'Mouth of the Wolf!' 

Great name and as luck would have it, great food.  It was my birthday, the weather had been perfect and we had been upgraded to a Junior Suite at the hotel as reward for waiting patiently while six American gents checked-in in front of us: our patience was required because only one of them had actually arrived ahead of us. I ordered the most expensive dish on the menu - Wagyu beef.  It was truly fabulous, much better than Neil Perry's and the bonus was - there were three slices and it came with vegetables!

To top it off, entree was the most delicate crunch of pastry filled with Rabo del Torro. And the Rioja was fantastic too.

Our lovely waitress at The Mouth of the Wolf - A Boco de Lobo - was French.  Her father was  Portuguese and her mother was Czech.  She had come to work in Spain because her boyfriend was Spanish.   She had only a little English, but some Italian.  So to describe the detail of the menu for me, she had to translate it into French with a bit of Italian for Paul, and Paul had to translate it into English for me.  Then, for every English word she didn't know, she wanted it translated back into Italian and French so she could make the connections.  

And through it all she smiled like this!