The Tower of Hercules, A Coruña

Too short, in some ways, my stint in Santiago de Compostela. It's a charming city and the apartment was fabulous, so I was sad to leave but, at the same time, I was keen to get home again because of a handful of reasons. Not to mention that I wanted to start to process all the photos I'd taken...

The flight didn't leave until 21.50, so we had the whole day, practically. First stop was A Coruña since we haven't been there yet.

Not knowing the city at all, I decided to navigate towards the Tower of Hercules first although I wished I'd read more about it before. Here are some links I've just found for you to follow should you wish to visit this landmark.

• http://www.uslhs.org/assets/resources/articles/lighthouse_of_la_coruna_spain.pdf
• http://turismocoruna.com/media/documentos/EsculturasTorreIingles.pdf
• http://torredeherculesacoruna.com/index.php?o=downloads&i=114

 Charon by Ramón Conde

Breogan (Celt leader) by José Cid

A lonely path

Wind Rose by Javier Correa

On the whole, I didn't find A Coruña very appealing. It felt lifeless, but, perhaps, I wasn't in the right places. Very often, in Spanish cities, when in doubt, the best place to head for is the old quarters. Well, either I didn't manage to find it or I was in it but it didn't look very inviting.

Have you been to A Coruña?

Controversial exhibition by Ramón Conde near the Cathedral of Santiago

Where's Galicia?
Isn't it somewhere south, south-west of Cornwall?

Well, yes... The wet, grey, overcast day continued, and the day turned to evening...no sight of the sun...all sound too familiar.

The umbrellas opened and closed, anoraks and raincoats, sombre and bright clashing wildly, travellers and pilgrims trudged and mingled on and around the squares encircling the Cathedral, and me, wishing for more flattering light for the camera.

On one of these squares, the Silversmith's Square, La Plaza de Las Platerías, La Praza das Praterías, it will come as quite a shock to the uninitiated when they looked up at the balconies opposite one of the sides of the Cathedral, just by the fountain of the horses.

A series of exaggeratingly large, grotesque even, naked-as-daylight statues stare down at them in the square. In a way they looked as though they could have come from all those centuries ago - one thinks of the deadly seven sins and of gluttony, in particular, but wait a minute. Some of these are not obese in the slightest. They're big and strong, but not fat.

And you start to think, no, there's something not quite right. They seem, erm, sort of out of place. But, surely, if they're here, the Church must have put them up?

Well, no, the Church didn't put them up here. In fact, they complained about them, but the local council decided not to take them down.

The statues are the work of a Galician sculptor, Ramón Conde, and his exhibition is called O Poder (Power). 15 statues, spread on the balconies around the squares of Platerias and Obradoiro, will be there until 28 September 2014, their underlying concept being that strength and improvement are two essential conditions for survival.

What do you think? Are grotesque naked statues of men an insult to the Cathedral and religious pilgrims?

El Peine del Viento

Whatever I know how to do, I've already done. Therefore I must always do what I do not know how to do. (Eduardo Chillida)

The Comb of the Wind. The Wind Comb. Three pieces of rusty metal placed on rocks at the end of a bay where hardly anyone ever comes to? Why the singular form when there are three? Isn't each one of them supposed to be a "comb"? (In spite of popularly being referred to in the plural form, both in English and in the original language, the correct form is singular.)

Questions like these creep into the casual visitor's mind as they approach this corner of San Sebastián. It is my regret that I didn't have the time to visit this site more than once, and the one time I did it, I did it at a time which was probably not the best (thinking of photography...), but one has to make the most of one's opportunities.

To understand this work of Chillida's, you must understand, or at least try to understand, the man himself. You must understand the type of person he was, the vision he had, his purpose. It is imperative, therefore that you should read this superb article, born out of an "interview" with Eduardo Chillida's son, Luis. Click here. You should also visit this page (in Spanish, but you can try using Google Translate) although I think the video sucks.

Something that took 11 years to complete cannot be understood in 11 minutes, perhaps not even in 11 visits. When I came, in terms of photography, it was probably the worst time - round about lunch time - but in terms of the crowd, it was good. Most people were either on the beach or eating. There were a handful of people arriving and leaving, some contemplating, resting, whispering, checking their smart phones, and there was a busker playing not inappropriate music on his Spanish guitar. No noisy stereo systems, no umbrella-waving tour guides. Possible for me to let my camera do its best. There will be another time when I'll be able to contemplate without it.

Busker playing ambiental music

To understand El Peine del Viento, you'll have to understand that the three pieces of iron sculpture are almost incidental. It's not about them. It's about the area around them. It's about the rocks, Santa Clara beyond, Mount Igueldo behind; it's about the sea, beating against the rocks incessantly; it's about the wind, its rhythm, its sound... It's about the space. And time.

Three pieces, representing the past, the present and the future. And everything in between.

I would like to share the photos I took, but they're too many, so I decided to make a video out of them. The photos can also be seen on my Flickr account. Here's the direct link to the album, "El Peine del Viento". I hope you'll find these three minutes or so worth your while - it took me much more than that to produce it. ;)

Best to watch it on full screen mode, and on HD. Click on the wheel icon, bottom right, click on quality and select 1080 HD.

Guggenheim, Bilbao, Part Two

Continued from Guggenheim, Bilbao, Part One

I might not have gone for a close-up, but I did take a few more shots of Anish Kapoor's 'Reflectorama' from various angles. Here are a couple.

 Anish Kapoor's 'Reflectorama', full length

This following shot almost got dumped into the bin because I thought it was too cluttered and Guggenheim just overshadowed the silver orbs. However, I set out to work on it and I quite like the finished product. Rather than being overshadowed by Guggenheim, it now seems to forge with it, giving a shape of something not unlike the old statues of protective animals.

The Steel Puppy

We walked around the museum, looking up, down and around, looking beyond... now, how on earth did they dare construct such a hideous monster beside something like Guggenheim??? Doesn't it make you wonder? Even The Flower Puppy looks at it disapprovingly.

The Flower Puppy isn't happy

And here's the Puppy, in its full flowery glory, guarding the Guggenheim.

The Flower Puppy

I remember, too, that it was a hot day, and kids could be seen playing among the sporadic jets of water shooting out from the invisible fountain, on the west of the museum.

Sporadic jets from hidden fountain

When I said before that we didn't enter the museum, I meant entered to see the exhibits. I did enter the shop and had a quick walk around. With places such as museums and art galleries, I like to take my time and time was a bit short on this particular visit.