Welcoming this year's student exchange.
A Coruña:
A Coruña is a capital
province city in Spain in the autonmous community of Galicia.
An important
historical port, it's located on the North West coast of the Iberian
peninsula. The centre of the city extends over a peninsula linked to
firm land by a narrow neck of land, so it shows two sea fronts: the
docklands, towards the sea inlet, and the other to the open sea
towards the Orzán bay, and in which the main urban beaches
extend Riazor & Orzán.
A Coruña
municipality has a population of 247.376 inhabitants (2023), the
second most populated in Galicia after Vigo. A metropolitan area has
developed around the city that, together with the metropolitan area
of nearby Ferrol, make up a conurbation of 648.983 inhabitants which
is a bit more than half the province's population and nearly a fourth
part of the whole Galician community. Its population density is the
highest in all Galicia and one of the highest in the whole of Spain
(6472 hab/km2). Most of the surface devoted to industry is located in
the neighbouring municipality of Arteixo, one of the most
industrialized in Galicia. So the city is mostly devoted to the
service sector. Its secondary sector is centered mainly around the
docks and the oil refinery. Its climate is oceanic with mild
temperatures throughout the year.
The city has 12
private schools, 26 public ones, 17 secondary schools and 3
univeristies throughout its municipality. A Coruña University
has its Assembly Hall in the old town, and several campus around the
city: Elviña, Zapateira, Riazor and Oza and in Ferrol.
Currently the Univerisity has 26.000 students and offers degrees
which are unique in Galicia and even in all the North West area of
the peninsula, such as architecture, industrial design,
naval engineering, road, channel and dock engineering, sociology and
political and administration sciences.
In the neighbouring
municipality of Arteixo we find the general headquarters of Inditex,
the world's greatest textile group (owner of the popular brands Zara,
Pull and Bear, Bershka & Massimo Dutti, among others) and
whose influence in the city has been decisive. Apart from the
important port activity (second port in Galicia in fresh fish and
also of petrol and solid goods) which have made it Galicia's main
port in traffic numbers. A Coruña's airport (Alvedro), located offers regular flights to important Spanish cities and
some European destinations, with a growing number of passengers in
the last decade.
The most important and
popular sport team of the city is the Real Club Deportivo of A
Coruña, founded in 1906, which has achieved 6 titles. One
league Championship in the First Division (99-00), 2 King's Cups and
3 Spanish Supercups. The Deportivo has been second in Spain's league
5 times and has taken part 5 consecutive seasons in the Champions
League reaching Semifinals once. Important football matches are
played at the Riazor stadium.
Santiago:
Santiago de Compostela
is a city in Spain, in the province of A Coruña. It's the
capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, and it's the seat of
the Galician autonomic government (Xunta de Galicia) and the Galician Parliament.
Santiago's old town is
Unesco Human Heritage Site since 1985. It's one of the three great
Christian pilgrim sites, together with Jerusalem and Rome, as
tradition sets it as the burial place of the apostle Saint James, the
Great. The Cathedral has special artistic importance, devoted to this
apostle, and its the final destination of hundreds of thousands of
pilgrims from all over the world who walk the different Saint James Ways.
Nearby the city is the
Santiago de Compostela airport, the busiest in Galicia. It's also the
site of a 5 hundred-year-old University, placed among the 10 best in
Spain and with about 30.000 students, which helps to increase the
population of Santiago and its metropolitan area over 200.000
inhabitants.
