As I'm the first one to review this 2009 addition to the List, let's start with the practical details. The Tower is located at the tip of a peninsula in the north of the city of La Coruña (that's A Coruña in Galician). It is well signposted from there too. Although it's only a couple of kilometres from the city centre, I'd recommend not to walk from there (quite boring) but go to the site directly. There's a huge parking lot on the peninsula, but not really anything else besides toilets and an ice cream stall. Hundreds of other visitors were present when I visited the site on a Tuesday in August. It was already a popular destination before it became a WHS (120,000 visitors in 2006), and I guess now these numbers will become even higher.

The Tower / Lighthouse can be climbed all to the top. The entrance costs 2.5 EUR. I didn't really want to go up in my current condition, but buying the ticket is the only way to see some of the interiors. Fortunately, there are several points at which you can turn around or exit. The climb starts at the base, where the Roman foundations can be seen. The tower is called a 'Roman Lighthouse', but most of what you see dates from the 18th century. The Roman lighthouse (or what's left of that) is 'inside' the bigger current lighthouse (like a mathruska doll). ICOMOS applauded its 'functional integrity' more than its Roman features - it was and still is a lighthouse.

The stairs are easy to walk on and there are ample places to rest. I turned around about halfway.

Next to the lighthouse is a stone building that apparently houses the ex-voto of its construction. I wondered what it was for, but couldn't open my notes due to the strong winds blowing at the site!

When the lighthouse was inscribed this year, the thing that amazed me the most was that a nearby sculpture park, rock carvings and a Muslim cemetery were included too. The only reason I can think of is that they wanted to protect the entire peninsula as the core zone. So that way some other structures came in too. However, there's also a large sports complex at the same location which they conveniently declared as being in the buffer zone.

It's pleasant enough to walk on the peninsula and let the wind and the sun touch you. Some of the sculptures and the Muslim cemetery are located quite far from the rest, behind the sports center. I didn't go there. A complete visit to the peninsula probably takes about 2 hours. And you can bring your own picnic lunch as there are several nice spots to sit and watch the sea and the ships passing by.