Tower of Hercules (Torre de Hercules), Galicia, Spain

5macedonboy 5:00 PM Jan 24, 2023

Oldest Extant Lighthouse
The Tower of Hercules is the oldest extant lighthouse. The tower has been in existence since the Roman occupation of Spain, built or perhaps rebuilt on the orders of the Emperor Trajan. In 1788, the surviving tower was refurbished under the orders of King Carlos III and given a neoclassical restoration facade. While the surrounding park is free, there is a small fee to enter and climb the tower. The ground floor is an in-situ museum with exhibits showing the Roman foundations as well as small archaeological finds. There are four floors in total, each accessible via a narrow spiral staircase. Each floor is largely bare except for information boards detailing the history of the tower. The top of the tower provides amazing views of the sea and surrounding park.

4statesec 5:00 PM Apr 6, 2022

Amazing Tower and Surrounding Park and Coastline
The Farum Brigantium to use the original Roman name vs the tourist marketing speak name given to it today is a must see if you are in A Coruna. I was unfortunately not able to enter the tower due to force 7 winds. They close the observation deck at force 5 and the whole tower at force 7. I can understand the former for sure but I am less clear on the latter given the whole park which is quite lovely was open and subject to the same force 7 winds. In any event the outside of the tower and honestly its location lived up to the hype. The surrounding park and coastline are wonderful and even though it was rather windy with on and off light rain I enjoyed exploring it completely. If you are going here and will be sore if it is closed I suggest you check their Twitter feed which does announce the closures. The ticket office by parking office had no sign to tell you why it was closed but there was a sign up by the tower that explained it. On the bright side I had the the tower and the park largely to myself which was nice.