This picturesque, historic town lies on the Atlantic coast 375 miles north of Lisbon, Portugal our previous port of call. It is the provincial capital of Galicia, a region of Spain, and is the port from which the famed Spanish Armada set sail in its failed endeavour to conquer England. At the entrance to La Corunna’s harbour is the Tower of Hercules, the oldest working Roman Lighthouse in the world, built in the second century AD. Nowadays, La Corunna a busy port town. Once again, like with Lisbon we were lucky with our berth being right in the middle of the old town. It was a Sunday when we called so the town was perhaps less busy than it might otherwise have been. That said there were plenty of locals out and about. One of the first things that catches the eye in La Corunna are the splendid old buildings that line the harbour side. Spectacular 19th and early 20th century multistorey apartment buildings; the frontages of which contain beautiful windowed balconies featuring intricate woodwork and sometimes coloured stained glass. The balconies were built to provide protection from the inclement weather that often besets the region. Armed with a sightseeing map Terry and I set off to explore the myriad of laneways and tiny streets that make up the old town. The streets are paved mostly with large flagstones rather than cobblestones which made walking with my semi-bung leg somewhat easier. The street scapes are simply spectacular. Old buildings in various colours, and of mixed architectural genre. Archways everywhere; stunningly beautiful street lamps, and lamp posts. Massive wooden doors with huge door knockers in all manners of shapes and sizes. And then there are the domes, spires, huge statues and rustic old churches that dot the skyline and streetscape. Throw in numerous restaurants, bars and cafes – set in gorgeous old buildings, and you have a genuinely mesmerizing setting. We saw several families leaving the old churches around the town, and heading off to eat at many of the restaurants. It was lovely to see what were clearly several generations of the same family out strolling arm in arm on their way to or from lunch. After being stuck on board with several hundred very unattractive, badly dressed Russians, Germans and other nationals, it was a real pleasure to see so many good looking, well turned out locals in La Corunna. The women were elegantly dressed, and the men understated but dapper in their attire. It was especially great to be able to tell the men from the women, because honestly on board, at times it’s hard to tell who’s the husband and who’s the wife in a couple. They often both have the same crew cuts, and bushy eye brows! In one of the backstreets Terry and I happened upon a Jameria which is kind of like a delicatessen specialising in cured meats. We decided to join the predominantly local crowd inside having lunch. This consisted of a huge platter of cured meats: ham, beef and pork, a gruyere-like cheese and a basket of homemade bread rolls – accompanied by red wine and beer. The entire ceiling of the place was hung with prosciutto and other joints of meat undergoing the curing process. Take a look at the photos accompanying this post and you will see what I mean. We left feeling sated and happy at having found an off-the-beaten-track place to eat with the locals, rather than at one of the mainstream eateries in the main square where most of the tourists go. All up, lunch cost us Euro10 each– about AUD$14 – try doing that in Melbourne. After lunch we hit the sightseeing trail again – but, not to be unkind – after already having seen 3-4 ancient churches the desire to see more was on the wane. So we settled for browsing in the store windows for a while and finding somewhere for coffee. Again in a backstreet we settled in at a bar – I ordered two coffee Americano with milk, but something clearly got lost in translation. One cappuccino arrived; and one incredibly elegant café latte resting on a nest of slivered cinnamon sticks – which were also sprinkled across the froth. And a large bowl of popcorn – complimentary it seems. Price for coffee - about AUD$2.60 each. Cheap! The weather was stunning; warm and sunny. So like many others we headed off to buy an ice cream each, which we sat and ate while people watching. I decided to try and take some ‘people’ shots – of locals - to add to my blog photos. I tend to always shoot the same things: buildings and streetscapes – and want to add some photographic variety to my blogs. So I clipped on my telephoto lens and tried to surreptitiously take a few shots from afar i.e. without the subjects knowing. I had some success – see the results in the photos with this post - and this has spurred me to try and improve in this area. I have a really good DSLR camera – a Nikon D7000 – but you need a PhD to get the best out of it. But try I will. So after an entirely enjoyable half day in La Corunna we climbed back onto our floating hotel – and sat out on our balcony waving to the onshore crowds who had come down to watch our sail out. Another fantastic port of call!