Day 4 - Wednesday 25th December, Christmas Day in La Caruña

We woke to stillness. Our cabin is pitch black when the lights are out, and in the darkness, nothing moved......... Absolutely bloomin' marvelous!

We were late up and missed breakfast, but it didn't matter. Just outside was La Caruña. The ship docked early and we went up on deck for the first time this cruise, to look out on the quiet and still city in appreciation. The weather forecast was 7°C, cloudy, with the chance of rain. It sounded wonderful.

We stayed on board to get a hearty lunch and then went out to explore. It was nice that everywhere was closed, we could walk easily through the streets and the traffic was quiet. With tourist map in hand, we planned a pleasant walk to blow away the cobwebs. We planned to make our way across the peninsula to a beach on the other side, and then walk around to the Tower of Hercules and back to the ship.

And it was a nice walk, although blowing away cobwebs was a little bit of an underestimation. The wind was quite fierce, and when we reached the beach we were fascinated by the size and ferocity of the waves. We were also very relieved that we weren't still out there sailing on them.

A fountain on the beach promenade. 

Huge waves being blown in from the ocean

From the beach, we turned to walk along the coastline, enjoying the fresh air and solid ground until we came across the Domus (House of Man), one of the museums in La Caruña. Like everywhere else, it was closed, but we loved the bronze statue outside.

We walked a little further, battling the wind to move forward. Suddenly, it got even stronger, and we had to hide behind a building for several minutes as a squall came ashore and hammered hail in sideways from the sea. The ground turned white with stones, (white Christmas?) and then just as suddenly as it arrived, the squall was gone, leaving us to walk the rest of the way in blustery peace.

The Tower of Hercules

The Tower of Hercules is the oldest lighthouse in the world apparently. Set in what is now a park, it's a pleasant (but windy) walk up to the tower, where you can enjoy the views all around. Again, it was closed, but when it's open, you could climb the 220 steps inside to get to the top and enjoy even more views. We were perfectly happy with just the park.

Views from the Tower of Hercules

The site is now a park

 From there we made our way back through the city to the ship. Another bronze statue caught our attention as we walked, we have no idea who or what he is supposed to represent - quite fascinatingly bizarre.

Bizarre!

We also came across this bronze in the Plaza de Maria Pita, a local heroine

 - I looked her up, her story is here: Wikipedia - Maria Pita

And then it was back to the ship. It was a formal night, much to Peter's dismay, but he got into his tux somewhat belligerently, and we enjoyed Christmas Dinner, a show, a quiz and the company of like minded film buffs Chris and Mick.

Tomorrow we stay in port until 1 pm. This means that the ship will stay level for a bit longer. Yippeeeee!