Continued from A Coruña Beaches.

As this map below shows, there are a lot of things to see and do in A Coruña. Click image to enlarge.

After I left the beach, I saw some nice fountains, an aquarium, and sculptures. Aquarium Finisterrae is rated #6 out of 79 things to do in A Coruña, according to TripAdvisor. But I couldn’t linger: the Torre de Hercules was beckoning me, so ultreia e suseia (onward and upward.)

An open air museum surrounds the Tower of Hercules

More than 15 sculptures

Some are related to hercules

Guardianes sculptures on the path leading to the tower

There are three giant heads that guard the Tower of Hercules

They look like sleeping giants

View of Tower of Hercules in the distance

Tower of Hercules is on the left in this photo by Spain.info

The Tower of Hercules

I had the opportunity to climb to the top of the oldest lighthouse still in operation, the Tower of Hercules, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The views from the top were fantastic!

The exhibit and information posters inside the tower were outstanding. The self-guided tour costs just 3 Euros.  I find Roman history and architecture through the ages fascinating.

Here’s more about Tower of Hercules from the UNESCO website:

UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE
Date of Inscription: 2009

The Tower of Hercules has served as a lighthouse and landmark at the entrance of La Coruña harbour in north-western Spain since the late 1st century A.D. when the Romans built the Farum Brigantium. The Tower, built on a 57 metre high rock, rises a further 55 metres, of which 34 metres correspond to the Roman masonry and 21 meters to the restoration directed by architect Eustaquio Giannini in the 18^th century, who augmented the Roman core with two octagonal forms. Immediately adjacent to the base of the Tower, is a small rectangular Roman building. The site also features a sculpture park, the Monte dos Bicos rock carvings from the Iron Age and a Muslim cemetery. The Roman foundations of the building were revealed in excavations conducted in the 1990s. Many legends from the Middle Ages to the 19th century surround the Tower of Hercules, which is unique as it is the only lighthouse of Greco-Roman antiquity to have retained a measure of structural integrity and functional continuity.  Read more: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1312

Tower of Hercules (Spain) © Tomás Fano

This video below shows the man who runs the lighthouse and cleans the glass to keep it shining brightly.

I put together my own video with highlights of the beach and tower. This video was captured on May 28, 2017.

Surf’s up! I love the big fountain at the top of the promenade. It is dedicated to the surfers of A Coruña.  So this is a surf spot too!

Strange things happened when I was climbing the Tower of Hercules!

I tracked the walk from my hotel, along the beach, to the Tower of Hercules, and to the place where I caught a bus.  But as you can see in the screenshots, the recording from the MapMyHike App went a little crazy. I estimate it was about 12 km instead of 23.

I usually use MapMyHike for my site-seeing walks and at home for local hikes and dog walks. Because of the tracking hiccup shown above, I only use the All Trails App on my Camino hikes.

TIP FOR PILGRIMS: For those who like to track hikes using a smart phone, the AllTrails App never fails me. I decided to upgrade to Pro so I can have all of my Camino hikes and other hike recordings available on my account:
https://www.alltrails.com/members/the-camino-provides/recordings

Also, bring your credential for a sello (stamp) from the Tower of Hercules.

Up next: Strolling the Ciudad Vieja (Old Town).

Stay tuned. I’m unpacking my Camino, adding photos to the Facebook album, and rolling out the posts. All of my stages will be added to this page: Camino Inglés 2017.