On the art nouveau trail in A Coruña

When you’re walking through the city of glass, look up

L-R: Calle San Nicolas 11, Casa Viturro, and Plaza de Lugo 22

“Do you see anything unusual?” My guide, Chus, asks as I peer upward at the mint-green and white wedding cake of a building in Plaza de Lugo, the heart of A Coruña’s commercial district. 

It takes a while for me to register that what I’m looking at is looking back at me. The uppermost level of the building’s facade is stacked with seven rows of eyeballs, an intriguingly surreal finish to one of this Galician city’s most lauded works of early 20th-century architecture.

Plaza de Lugo 22

I’m on a tour of what is referred to in Spain as modernismo or arquitectura modernista. It’s a slightly confusing term for English speakers, for whom modernism means something completely different. 

Want more A Coruña content? Check out my video guide to what to do in this beautiful city:

I travelled to A Coruña courtesy of Volotea and Turismo Coruña. For more, check out my Instagram stories highlight A Coruña.