A statue greets visitors to the Tower of Hercules, but the statue is not the Greek or Roman hero. No, it is instead a Celtic king, a legend named Breogán, from a foreign land far from Galicia in northwest Spain. According to stories, after wandering the earth, the king settles in Iberia and and builds a city named Brigantia and a tower from which he espies the emerald shores of Ireland. Breogán may not have ever existed, but the Galicians have Celtic ties to Hibernia in their history, as has been confirmed by DNA testing linking the Irish with the north coast of Spain. And that tower that made its way into the stories? It may very well be the Tower of Hercules.

I visited the Tower of Hercules on a delightfully sunny day in May 2019. The tower stands on a hill at the end of a peninsula on the north side of A Coruña, and was an easy destination to aim for as I drove along the coast. The parking lot at the end of the peninsula was rather convenient, with the ticket office, complete with a small museum, nearby. I visited on a weekday in the summer, and was able to procure a ticket with the next earliest entry time; I'm not sure if it is busier on weekends, but I was glad to not have a long wait. Even if I did have to wait, though, the peninsula had plenty of sculptures and works of art dispersed around the grounds (as mentioned below) to keep one occupied.

Others have described the Roman history of the tower, so I won't go into it here. I most enjoyed the initial walk through the base of the tower, where the internal structure of the original lighthouse, with a historic lamp, was on display. Rooms on each level of ascent in the tower also provided some fascinating background on the tower's history. The views from the top of the tower were pretty spectacular, and I enjoyed looking out to sea and imagining ancient Romans or Celts using the original structure to guide them back home from their voyages. What I did not see was Ireland, but the Spanish coast and views of A Coruña were recompense enough.

Logistics: The Tower of Hercules is an easy walk from the dedicated parking lot; there are many flights of stairs to the top, but I enjoyed the view.