Monte de San Pedro
Monte de San Pedro is a hill that sits at the southwest end of the Bay of Orzán and it has been taunting me for a while. I had planned to walk to it a few times already but in the end I decided that this was a destination I was sure Sagrario would like to visit and there really wouldn’t be a point for me to do the trip twice. I was right to wait. Since we had one more day of city touring left, she and I decided it was time to conquer this mountain and conquer it we did.
We did cheat a bit and took a bus which delivered us close but not quite, mainly because we got off at the wrong stop but also behind the hill. According to Google Maps there was supposed to be a way to walk up from the back and not from the sea side where the only way to go up was via a weird elevator of some sort. Never ones to shy away from a challenge, we decided it would be more fun to go around. It is said that hindsight is 20/20 and there is a very good reason for that. The hill, with its seemingly gentle paths shown on Google, became a tortuous mountain to climb instead and we definitely took much longer to scale it than originally anticipated. Not only that but half the time we weren’t even sure we were going to end up where we wanted to, i.e. in the lovely lawn-covered park atop the hill. After much huffing and puffing (the paths were really steep, honest) we ended up in the parking lot behind the park and beside one of the fanciest restaurants in town, Árbore da Veira, with its walled off grounds (and the reason we couldn’t easily cut through to the park itself).
Fortunately, all the pain and clear evidence of how out of shape I still am (i.e. heavy breathing) was totally worth it as we were greeted by some incredible views from one of the highest points in the city, both towards the urban areas as well as the vastness of the Atlantic. Monte de San Pedro is a favourite of families who, judging by the parking lot, usually come by car to spend the day enjoying the sprawling lawns and great places to picnic. They also come to go up and/or down from the viewing point using a very unusual glass elevator. This is what we did but I have to admit I’m glad we only paid the one-way ticket, as the experience, while interesting, wasn’t nearly as thrilling as I had envisioned, mostly because it is way overpriced (3€ each way), especially when you’re not allowed to move around or even get close to the window since some snotty kid got there before you and is just making stupid noises instead of enjoying the view, but I digress. The elevator is cool, but the trip is both too quick and not quick enough.
Once back at sea level, we did walk all the way back along the picturesque seawall where first we found the famous Polbo, a tile-covered giant octopus, and then, a little further down the ways, the Obelisco Millenium, a very tall and pointy monument to the year 2000? … well, I’m not really sure what it is a monument to, but it is shiny and cool, and the views out to la Torre de Hercules were great, as always.
We eventually made it back to the commercial areas that back onto the Orzán beach, and slowly back to Fely’s. We had to get ourselves organized, after all, since tomorrow we are heading out of town on a road trip to las Rías Bajas, the southern part of the Galician coast. Our tired feet were very glad to have at least a bit of time to rest.
