Asturias - Day 2

On Sunday, we packed up from our hotel and made our way up the coastal highway. The night before upon playing cards at the hotel, I discovered a book all about Asturias for travelers and upon opening it, found a beautiful beach that was quite close. Before leaving, we took a picture of a very typical Asturian building that was used to hold food and keep it away from animals and rats, so they built it on stilts as you can see in the first picture. We headed to Torimbia Beach and found an amazing view. To see some of the panoramic shots, go to Izzy's blog and she will have them posted soon. The water was bright blue and even green in some places and the cliffs were tall and green from all of the plants and trees. We stayed up there for a good hour taking pictures and just soaking in the fresh, salt air and the amazing view of the mountains right along the beach. From there, we made our way towards a small town called Ribedesella, another coastal beach town. There we found some of Spain's infamous caves, some of which date back to pre Roman times. Unfortunately, the big cave with the many pre-Roman drawings was closed until April so we just took the tour through the free smaller cave but it was nice to look at. We weren't allowed to take pictures of the cave. Afterwards, we headed south to the capital of Asturias, Oviedo. There we found a nice, laid back atmosphere and with the beautiful weather, the people were out and walking around and just enjoying life. We ate at a local spot and had some good food. From Oviedo, we decided to head to León on our way back to Madrid because León is famous for its cathedral and a building that Gaudí built there. Suddenly on Sunday evening, the great weekend took a turn for the worst. Our friend's car stalled and this caused a problem with the electrical system of the car. We had to call a tow truck to come get her car. When he assessed that the car should not be driven back to Madrid, he offered to take us to the train station but we had to hurry so Iz and I had to ride in the car on top of the bed of the tow truck all the way to train station. That was interesting to say the least and humorous to the people walking around who saw us up there trying to hide. We arrived with plenty of time but the only train to Madrid with room for us was at 3:20 a.m. Finally, we found a rental car and after a 3 hour delay, we made our way back to Madrid only to find out 2 days later that her car was perfectly fine when it arrived to the tow truck's place. It was a great weekend and again, we thank Bebo and Gary for making it possible.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

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Asturias - Day 1

This weekend was made possible by a Christmas present from Bebo and Gary, thanks guys. On Friday evening, we packed up and headed out of cold and rainy Madrid for Asturias, a region in the north western part of Spain famous for its cheeses, milk, honey, cider, and other foods. Along the way, we had sun, ice, snow, rain, clouds, and any other kind of weather you can imagine just on our ride from Madrid to Llanes. We stayed in a hotel right on the beach in the part of Asturias called Llanes. We spent Saturday riding through back mountain roads and checking out the Picos de Europa, one of the taller mountain ranges in Spain. The weather was perfect, around 50, and we found lots of good food and had a good time with our two friends who came along. In one small town called Covadonga, we found a waterfall type setting that was turned into a memorial to some virgin in the catholic faith and the story goes that if you are a girl and drink from the water, you will become pregnant. If you are a man and drink from the water, you will have a boy first. There are a couple of lakes further into the mountains that we could not visit because the road had been cut off due to the bad snow. We had lunch in a lovely little cafe in a small town called Arenas and the owner served us delicious lamb, steak, and salmon. He later showed us his cash register that was made in Ohio, back when the US actually made stuff. In Llanes, we spent the evening visiting some of the cider shops, where the Asturians have perfected the art of pouring cider from over the head down into a cup held below their waste at a side angle without looking at what they are doing. The food was good as we were all excited to try the famous Asturian dish Fabada, a mix of large white beans, sausage, blood sausage, cured ham chunks, and a wonderfully greasy stew base. Our Saturday was well spent and the beautiful weather made it all the better as everyone back in Madrid suffered through nasty rain all day. Enjoy the pictures, we certainly enjoyed the process of taking them.

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

 

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