Lugo is one of those cities that tells you its age before you have parked. A ring of Roman wall, two kilometres of it and still complete, circles the old town, and walking along the top is the best way to understand why UNESCO listed it. The Romans founded Lucus Augusti here at the end of the first century before Christ, drawn by hot springs on the Miño river, and the baths are still in use by the riverside. The wall's gates, rebuilt and re-cut many times, let you walk in and out of the old quarter as people have for nearly two thousand years.
The cathedral sits in the middle of the old town and is a mixture of centuries. It began as a Romanesque church, took on Gothic parts, then a baroque front, and in the end has a character that comes from all of it. It is known for keeping the Blessed Sacrament permanently on display, which is a rarity. The Plaza de Santa María in front is a good place for a coffee.
Riding in is easy from almost any direction. The roads from Sobrado dos Monxes and Mondoñedo come across rolling Galician countryside: green, damp, lined with granite walls and eucalyptus, with plenty of bends and occasional slippery patches in the wet. This is rain country, and a waterproof layer is not optional. The city has well over ninety thousand people, so fuel, repair shops and hotels are no problem, and parking a motorbike near the wall is usually easy outside market days.
Lugo is also a city to eat in. Tapas arrive with drinks in many bars, which makes an evening stroll cheap and unhurried. Octopus cooked Galician style at the fairs, pork and chestnuts in the autumn, and the local cheeses all reward a long lunch. The Camino Primitivo, the oldest pilgrim route to Santiago, passes through the city, so you will meet walkers with sunburnt knees in the lanes around the wall. Spring and September are the best months, when the stone is warm and the sky is not yet solid grey.