Hasta la Vista, España!
Our one day in Spain started out rainy and was cold throughout.
I had never heard of A Coruña, and it is definitely off the beaten path unless you’re on a cruise ship that needs a port of call between Portugal and France. Nevertheless, I enjoyed today’s tour excursion of the city. (Rita, tired from a night in which we turned the clocks forward, stayed in the stateroom and enjoyed the 100-odd photos and videos I showed her afterwards.)
It was raining hard as we boarded the bus outside the Viking Sky, and it continued to rain or at least drizzle throughout the three-hour tour. Initially it was a walking tour through the city’s “old town.” Then we traveled along the Atlantic coast, stopping at the continent’s oldest continuously operating light-house for a photo-stop. (Sorry, I’m still unable to upload photos or videos today.)
We were shown lots of beautiful architecture, monuments, sculptures and more. It’s a very bicycle-friendly city with a beautiful separated bike path next to the coast road we were on. We saw no bicycles, however, because of the weather.
The city is at the same latitude as New York, but it’s much milder because of the Gulf Stream. The coldest it gets in the winter is 40F, according to our guide, Roi, and it doesn’t get too hot in the summer because of the ocean’s effect. Inland, however, it can get very hot in the summer and very cold (15F) in the winter.
Back on the ship, Rita and I enjoyed a light lunch and also a light dinner. There was a BBQ on the pool deck, but the music from the ship’s band, Seasix, was so loud I didn’t even look at what was being offered.
Instead of live musical entertainment in the Star Theater, they’re showing a recording of a 2022 concert of Beethoven music at the British Museum.
The only lecture today was after we were at sea but before the concert. It was Col. David King talking about the intelligence failures and successes related to the D-Day invasion of June 6, 1944. One example was that intelligence had missed a key gun emplacement on the cliff above Omaha Beach which mowed down almost an entire company of troops on the beach below.
That’s all for today! We’re looking forward to a quiet sea day tomorrow — our last sea day of the entire cruise. We’re promised a “special” coffee chat with cruise director Verity Brown, and four lectures.
Bye for now.