Spain

While lazily wandering around the Castillo de Santa Cruz, a medieval castle perched on a hill high above the Basque city of San Sebastian, I came across this shiny motorcycle parked in the grounds outside.

Presumably belonging to one of the staff that worked at the small museum inside the castle, it was an incongruous find amongst the weathered rocks and mossy cobblestones that surrounded it.

“Have you been to San Sebastian? It’s amazing!”

If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard a variation on that, I would be rich. This small city in the Basque country of northern Spain seems to be a perennial favourite amongst anyone that had ever been there, so when I noticed that it was only a few hundred kilometres from where I was in La Coruña the decision wasn’t hard to make. I was going to San Sebastian.

I knew nothing about La Coruna before I arrived. A smallish city of around a quarter million inhabitants on Spain’s north-western coast, I was there only to visit Craig and Linda, good friends that I seem to keep bumping into all over the world..

I boarded the train six days later enamoured with the place. Narrow cobbled streets snaked through the old town with no discernable order to the untrained eye. Families strolled together ambling towards dinner, the restaurants barely starting to open at a time when those in other parts of the world have already shut. The ever-present Atlantic breeze kept temperatures cooler than the rest of the country, but the ocean views that came with it were adequate compensation.

I spent this week visiting friends in La Coruna, a small city on the Galician coast of northwest Spain. It’s a wonderful place, relaxing and highly enjoyable despite the cool winds that blew off the Atlantic for much of my stay.

Like much of the rest of the country the food and drink are simply incredible, the people are vibrant and the cobbled streets of the maze-like old town provide hours of exploration (whether that is the intention or not…).

What impressed me most, however? The expansive views. There are dozens, maybe hundreds of perfect vantage points to stop for a while, gazing over the rocky coastline and out into the blue.

It’s even more impressive at sunset.

My first trip to Spain back in 2006 was to visit some friends in the small town of Alicante on the south east coast. In my jetlagged fog I don’t remember much of the first few days there, except that I drank a lot of sangria on the beach and watched the football world cup in tiny crowded cafes.

Somewhere along the line I apparently did manage some sightseeing though, including this gorgeous Roman aqueduct. I’ve always loved the range of bright colours in this photo, as well as the great architectural mix of old and new literally on top of each other.