21st to 28th September 2017
We visited a marina in La Coruña, the Real La Coruña marina (which is RIGHT in the centre of town) primarily to make it easy to meet with my mum and brother who were flying over to see us, but also to do the other things marinas are useful for (laundry etc.). Except the dryer was broken, and remained broken after the engineer had “fixed” it a couple of times. So, any pictures taken this week of the marina front (and there were plenty of people taking photos) will have included our washing drying on the line – nappies at the front, of course.
The marina was, well, interesting. It is right next to the cruise ship terminal so you get to watch the beastly things moor, listen to their announcements, and rock pretty wildly when they fire their bow/stern thrusters at the “wrong” time from your point of view. There is a small fishing fleet which moors inside the marina, so you get to rock again when they motor past… and sometimes you get to rock for no apparent reason. At times it is perfectly flat with no wind, and suddenly everyone’s fenders are squeaking and lines at full stretch, then slack, then jerking, etc. The weirdest marina I have been in from that point of view, particularly as the movement was so unpredictable.
The city itself was beautiful. A few things worth mentioning:
- The Aquarium Finisterrae, which from the website looked rather small, turned out to be fantastic. If our Spanish was better, it would have been even more educational, but as it was the exhibits were still hugely informative – Arthur understands wave formation better than he did before, as well as ocean currents and a few other geophysical phenomena. The fish were pretty amazing too, and the setting with breaking waves smashing all around was spectacular.
- I have never been to somewhere with more heladeria’s (ice cream shops). Give the Italian one on the front a miss (nothing wrong with it, but there are better options elsewhere). But make sure you get to the Bio Factory opposite the marina, which served wonderful egg-free (and/or vegan) ice cream.
- A restaurant named “Peculiar” – if you ever find yourself in the area, just go and eat there – they managed to squeeze us in for a short lunch before their fully-booked afternoon, after apologising that we would have to be in-and-out in an hour. With our kids, an hour sat down is a very long time. Best meal out we have had in some time, and I think I could have happily devoured two thirds of the dishes on the menu.
- The beach – would have been great for surfing, but was also great for running about in the shallows with the kids. It also assuaged my concern that Arthur and/or Theo, when on a Spanish beach, would run around shouting “boobies” and trying to touch strangers in a way they may consider inappropriate. Apparently, both of them only do that with family members. Good good.
