Gone with the wind

The week before A Coruña I was in Zaragoza, another Spanish city, known by how fast the wind blows. And how cold it is regardless the time of the year. Apparently this is because the city is in a valley and before arriving there the wind comes from the mountains, bringing the cold breeze. At least that’s what my taxi driver told me when I got in his cap, mad about the weather and about the fact the wind almost blown me way, back to Madrid. 

This was my 3^rd time in Zaragoza (the first was years ago, at the end of the road trip I did with some friends to the Basque country, and the second in 2008 during the Expo) and that piece of information the taxi driver gave me is pretty much all I know officially about the city. But this is what I know unofficially:

Zaragoza has a beautiful cathedral, called La Pilarica, that always reminds me of the cathedral from Vienna because of its colorful rooftop made from green, yellow, blue and white tiles. 

The square where the cathedral is is beautiful and sunny but probably the windiest spot in the entire city because it is wide open. 

(This statue looked so beautiful. But my personal Guinness Record of the city with the most beautiful and interesting statues per m² goes to Oviedo, where I was the week before I went to Zaragoza and about which I’ll tell you more in the next post. Stay tuned because it is really worth it!) 

This time around I noticed the Zaragoza’s authorities set up this wall almost in front of the cathedral, for all the citizens that wanted to participate and to contribute with their little grain of creativity to join forces and create something great, such as this graffiti that says: “Porque sueño, no estoy loco” (Because I’m able to dream, I know that I’m not crazy). Is a beautiful message and an iniciative to applaude. When people join forces does the result always look this great… or is just something that only I feel ?!

(Do you see that guy there, at the distance, painted in the wall?! That’s Goya, probably the greatest Spanish painter of all times, and this “title” is actually something important, because over the centuries in Spain there were many great painters, such as Velázquez, El Greco, Zurbarán, Dali, Picasso, Miró and many other… but Goya was the greatest and the city of Zaragoza was paying him a tribute with an exhibition on the MICAZ. The entrance is always for free but this exhibition is already over, nevertheless, next time any of you go to Zaragoza you may consider to pay them a visit because apparently they own several “Goyas”, in an effort to show to the world the importance the city had in the artist life and art). 

(This building remind me a bit of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milán or the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert in Brussels… Yes, yes, I know, with less glamour and sun light, but with a touch!)

In Zaragoza is one of my favorite “pinxos” restaurant in Spain (let me do a parenthesis in here: what the entire world call “tapa” is actually a “pinxo”, something on a piece of bread; a “tapa” isn’t a porcion neither, that is a “ración” which in Spanish means exactly “a porcion”; a “tapa” is a little bit of something on a little plate which in the past was put over the glass to avoid the flyes from landing inside the beer or the wine). So, as I was saying… In Zaragoza is one of my favorite “pinxos” restaurant. It is called El Cierzo (the name of the already mentioned cold wind that always blows in Zaragoza) and it is great. As I said this was my 3^rd time in town and it was also my 3^rd time in this restaurant that never never never disappoints me. What’s also great, but unheard of until now (despite the fact it is more than one hundred-years-old), is a little pasteries’ shop called Flor de Almibar. It is in the same street from El Cierzo and as you can see by the following pictures everything looks great. 

(Those little marzipan fruits captivate me, since in Portugal we have very similar little cakes… So I decided to go in and buy only two, just to try them…) 

(They were tasteful but not better than the Portuguese marzipan fruits and three times their price. Bottom line, a beautiful shop to see and to take pictures – there were some Japanese tourists doing the same, and I don’t mean trying the pastries, I mean taking pictures – but consider going somewhere else to have your dessert).

(I left the morning after to Barcelona and had a blast in the train taking pictures from the beautiful landscape around Zaragoza, full of windmills – of course -, and with the dawn “painting” everything with orange... although the pictures with my beloved LOMO fish eye lens don’t make justice to the magic of the moment – sniff!!!)

And now, I kindly ask my friend Eva (the same from this weekend in here) to shed some light on this post and add more information about the city of Zaragoza, her city, by using the comments box bellow. 

Woman's power

I just arrived from A Coruña, a lovely city in the north of Spain where it rains most of the time but that this weekend welcome me with a bright sun, ideal for some “turisting”. I was there several times before and, actually, this weekend I was supposed to be there only for work reasons but you know me… I can’t avoid meeting friends wherever I go, walk around, sneak everywhere that might seem at least a bit interesting and, of course, take some pictures to share with you. My guide this time was Maria, a Galician friend always full of projects that I met in Barcelona when she was working in MACBA. It was lovely to have her company and to “take advantage” from her knowledge about the city but most of all it was great to have the change to, once again, mix work with fun. 

A Coruña is mostly known by 4 things: The Hercules Tower, a lighthouse built in the 1^st Century, full of legends and myths which are all very hard to believe but that, despite all the histories told about it, we can say it’s the oldest lighthouse still working. The strength of their women that, when the British attacked the city in 1583 defend it with their own bare hands (by taking the rocks out of their houses and throwing them to the invaders) and won. It’s glass balconies that reflect the sun when it shines creating a beautiful “kaleidoscope effect”. And, last but not least, A Coruña is also known by it’s great sea food restaurants, especially by the typical way they cook the octopus. 

To get this beautiful sight from the tower we really had to get our wedge sneakers dirty. From Playa de las Lapas (the beach you could see in the previous picture), we had to climb the hill and walk what seem like a goat path but, voilá… amazing view, almost resembling a Scottish landscape.

But the worst was climbing the 236 steps of the tower (after having paid for it). Maria had a friend who was told that the number of steps from the tower was pair and that it would be much easier to climb them by twos… Really?! Can you imagine the effort?! But apparently he believed it. But imagine the disappointment of the poor thing when he arrived to the top and there was a step left. That's why during all his life he thought that the number of steps was actually impair. But the truth is that they are 236, I count them! This way I wasn’t thinking about the physical effort. 

Maria posing with the tower at the distance. 

In the emblem of the city you see the Hercules Tower, four scallop shells (which apart from being an exquisite dish very traditional in this part of Spain are also the symbol of the pilgrims from the Santiago Path, which I’ll do this Easter), and a skull that reminds us about the pirates that were constantly trying to invade the city and constantly threw out by their population, amongst them by the A Coruña woman.

The seashell sculpture that amplifies the sound of the wind. 

It is a bit “Dalínean”, which really attract me, and plus it is so well integrated with the landscape. We had to change a little bit (not to say a lot) our course to be closer to it but it was totally worth it because I was so so curious about it when I saw it from the top of the Hercules Tower and being close to the sculpture and listening to the sounds produced by this “seashell” was totally inspiring and really remind me of my childhood when I used to put my ears next to the seashells to listen the sea…

A Coruña is a peninsula so there’s sea everywhere you look!

After such a detour to be closer to the seashell sculpture which way should we go now?

Another interesting corner of the city.

These menhirs are not for real because, as you can see, there are holes in them…

But the sights are even cooler when seen through their holes. 

A note of humour. 

 Loved loved loved the full-figured marmaid!

And there you go, the glass balconies. At this point they weren’t reflecting the sun anymore, creating the “kaleidoscope effect” I mentioned before, because the weather was going back to it’s normal in this part from the north of Spain. 

Of course that Maria Pita, the female hero from the city, the personification of the women’s power, deserved a statue in the main square of the city. 

Plaza Maria Pita. Another Plaza Mayor from Spain?! Well, not quite. And this is actually something that I love. Every medium/big city in Spain has a main square and they’re all known by Plaza Mayor, despite the homages they might pay to their local celebs, but they’re all completely different. In San Sebastián is all made of wood balconies; in Barcelona has a fountain in the middle, beautiful arches bellow which you can find several bars and restaurants (for tourists); in Madrid has drawings… and in A Coruña has the “trade mark” glass balconies. 

The balconies...

And my so deserved lunch after several hours walking. Octopus is my favourite food in the entire world but I must say that the way they do it in A Coruña doesn’t convince me so I decided to try something else: muscles with béchamel. Yammmmmy!