FERROL: MENINAS, DESTROYERS AND AN IMPENDING WALK

On the move again. Greetings from Ferrol, a city on the “seafood coast of Galicia”in the A Coruña Province.

Located in the northwest corner of Spain, Ferrol has been a major naval shipbuilding center for hundreds of years. It is the birthplace of the dictator Francisco Franco and the start of the Camino Inglés, which is why I am here.

Tomorrow Edie Morrill and I and two Rhode Island neighbors ( Roxanne and Matt) will begin a 114 km six day walk back to Santiago de Compostela.

Edie and I arrived here last night after a work day in Santiago , dropping off a suitcase full of supplies for Casa Anglicana and Santa Susana. Matt and Roxanne have been in Madrid and will arrive later today.

On our walk from the bus station to the hotel we passed walls, doorways , entire facades and even mailboxes painted with varied interpretations of Diego Valazquez’ famous picture “Las Meninas “which hangs in the Prado Museum in Madrid.

We were to learn that these images were part of an effort begun in 2008 by artist Eduardo Hermida who painted the first “menina” in an effort to revitalize a declining neighborhood. He hoped to draw people and interest to this architecturally beautiful part of Ferrol.

Each year in September artists paint three hundred meninas and thousands tourists follow the Ruta de las Meninas de la Canido 2024 through neighborhoods being discovered, appreciated, and reinvigorated.

We didn’t see all three hundred but what we did see were amazing and ran the gamut of creativity-everything from skirts made of bottle caps to Star Wars to white sneakers to Snoopy .

One particularly striking picture captured our attention- a minina holding a gray navy destroyer looking toward two cranes silhouetted against a golden sky.

Checking into our hotel and looking out the window, we had our answer. We were right beside the docks of the Spanish Navy Maritime Department of the north.