Travels through History – Northern Spain

This book is a travelogue about the cities of northern Spain.

I travelled to

1 Pamplona

2 Burgos

3. San Sebastian

4. Valladolid

5. Segovia

6 Leon

7 Gijon

8 Oviedo

9 Santiago de Compostela

10. Pontevedra – Pontevedra is well worth a night’s stop if you’re travelling between Santiago de Compostela and Vigo. The main attraction for me was that traffic is banished from most of the city centre. The current mayor first came into office in 1999 and his philosophy was simple: private property – the car – should not occupy the public space.  Within a month, he had pedestrianised all 300,000 square metres of the zona monumental – the medieval centre, paving the streets with granite flagstones. 

Cars were stopped from crossing the city and street parking was banned – people looking for places to park causes the most congestion. All surface car parks in the centre were closed and underground ones were opened, with 1,686 free places. Traffic lights were removed in favour of roundabouts, and traffic calming measures were introduced in the outer zones to bring the speed limit down to 30km/h.

The benefits were and continue to be many. 30 people died in traffic accidents from 1996 to 2006, but there have been no fatalities since 2009. CO2 emissions are down 70%. Three-quarters of what were car journeys are now made on foot or by bicycle, and central Pontevedra has gained 12,000 new inhabitants, whereas the tendency in Galicia is for towns to be losing people. Small businesses have managed to stay afloat because passers-by are on foot rather than in cars and so can window shop and pop into a store to make a quick purchase or buy an item to drink or eat. I witnessed the same effect in Athens in Greece. People can be more attentive to their surroundings rather than watching out for cars and making sure they don’t bump into other people on the narrow pavement. There’s more room to breathe and the air is less full of pollutants and toxic fumes from stationary vehicles making the atmosphere more pleasant.

11. A Coruna – The outstanding reason to visit A Coruna is to see the world’s oldest active lighthouse, built by the Romans in the 2nd Century and re-clad in the 18th Century to protect the old structure. The lighthouse is a wonderful sight, but make sure to walk along the coastline here to experience the pounding of the waves and the strength of the wind even on a gentle day. 

You might begin to understand why the coast to the west of A Coruna is called the Costa da Morte, the coast of death. Ships have been wrecked along this coast for centuries and the jagged rocks, frothing waves, and strong tides have to be treated with great respect even today when modern technology makes us feel safe.

The Aquarium Finisterrae is close by and the highlight is the vast Nautilus tank, which allows visitors to become familiar with the fish life of the Atlantic Ocean.    

This city was the departure point of the Spanish Armada in 1588, a fleet that failed in its attempt to invade England and end the Elizabethan age. Even though the fleet was defeated and scattered to the four winds, the English still felt that A Coruna should be punished. In retaliation, Sir Francis Drake raided the city a year later, an attack that was only repelled when a local heroine called Maria Pita killed the English standard-bearer with a spear. This event is commemorated in a statue in Praza de Maria Pita, the heart of the city. This square also houses the Palacio Municipal.

12 Vigo – Vigo is the largest city in Galicia, the most north-western province of Spain. Vigo is arrayed along the sloping southern shoreline of its namesake ria or estuary. Over 300,000 people call Vigo home and it’s a lovely place to spend a couple of days exploring the sights as well as taking a ferry to the Iles de Cies in the mouth of the estuary.

Vigo is supposedly the largest fishing port in the world with around 5km of wharves where stocks are landed. If you love seafood then this is probably as good a place as there is in Spain to sample the fruits of the ocean. On the Rua de Pescaderia there are permanent granite tables where people sell fresh oysters on an almost daily basis. Fish is also sold at the Mercado de Pedra throughout the day and at stalls along the seafront early in the morning where the fish is fresh. 

For an orientation to the geography of the area, it’s best to climb up the streets and staircases to the top of the city, called the Castro Park. This hill offers spectacular views over the city, the estuary and the Cíes Islands.

In the gardens of the castle, the visitor can see the remains of settlements from the Castreño or hillfort culture (dating between the 3rd Century BC and the 2nd Century AD), the steep walls of a seventeenth-century fortress, and monuments to the renowned mediaeval troubadour Martín Códax. There are three anchors in the gardens in memory of the Battle of Rande otherwise known as The Battle of Vigo Bay.

on board the fast, modern trains of the Spanish railways.

I describe the history of these places along with the sights seen plus some food and drink options available to all.

There are extra stories about two pilgrimages of my own – to see the modern architecture of Santiago Calatrava in Valencia and to watch Lionel Messi play football in Barcelona.