"Those with honor, follow me!" Maria Pita

Quen teña honra, que me siga ("Whoever has honour, follow me, Maria Pita 1589), what a woman.

 If you zoom in on the photo above you can see the head of an English sailor under the foot of Maria Pita.  Maria was manning the walls of A Coruna old town against the invading English with  her husband who was a captain. He was killed with a crossbow bolt to his head.

An English soldier was  about to land the English standard on the battlements and Maria killed him and called all the locals to help protect the old town from the English invaders. Many women responded to Maria's call. The English were defeated and retreated. 

Maria was honoured with a plaza named after her, picture above and a fantastic sculpture depicting her heroism. Interestingly she was also granted a military pension.

A Coruna has some great walks. We followed the coastal track, right at the end of the bay in the picture above, and then took the wackiest funnicular to the top of Mont San Pedro, another strategic defensive fort guarding the coast.

Fantastic views from the top. Our hotel is on the headland in the distance in the photo below. We walked 7ks around the coast to the funicular.

 After all that walking a refreshment stop was needed. Back to the old town (more walking☺️)  to our favorite  little cafe with the best hot chocolate in Spain, terrific millefeuille too.

 It's fun wandering through the back streets in the old town, so historic.

 To end a day of walking and exploring we finished the day with a typical Galician delicacy, pulpo (octopus) and salad, delicious! Pulpo is soft and velvety and a taste between paua and crayfish.