Asturias

On my second full day in España, we had Paula's homemade jams on toast for breakfast. I gave Paula Australian presents as a thank you for letting me stay in her home. I got her a tea towel with Australian wild flowers printed on it, and a hand painted plate that spelt Australia with pictures of Australian animals. She loved them. I got Alejandro the Wallabies shirt that he is wearing in photos in my previous blog post. This is the view from where I was staying.

This is a photo of the house I stayed in:

Clara, Alejandro and I went to Covadonga and saw a small sanctuary church inside a cave.

We also saw a bigger church, Basilica de Covadonga, and went inside to have a look, but you weren't allowed to take photos.

We then drove to see the Lagos de Covadonga (lakes). We had to drive up a mountain on rocky roads in the fog, dodging cows along the way! We stopped at Lake Ercina, and it was covered in fog. It looked never-ending and creepy, and like something out of Harry Potter! We sat down by the lake to eat lunch. I had a jamon serrano con queso sandwich (basically Spanish ham and cheese!). Slowly the fog started to lift, and the landscape was so pretty.

We decided to walk around the lake. The first half of the walk was easy on a flat path, but then the path ended and we had to walk fast through mud so we wouldn't sink! By the time we got back around, the fog was gone and the sun had come out!

We drove past Lago Enol and stopped for some photos.

We then stopped at Mirador de la Reina, a lookout.

We then explored a large village called Cangas de Onis, where Alejandro went to high school. We walked around the town and looked in some stores, then went to a cafe and tried some more Spanish desserts. This time I got to try carbayón and palmera. Both are types of glazed pastry. The palmera we had wasn't very good, but on another day we got one from a different bakery and it was amazing!

We had a quick look at a small village called Arenas, then went home for the day. Alejandro made us a salad for dinner, and he helped me with the spelling of the towns we had visited and the food we had tried.

The next day we went inside a cueva (cave).

We walked and saw a little beach called playa de cobijero surrounded by rocks that was being fed by the sea.

We did some rock climbing, then got to see the beach from above.

 Clara and I climbed up further and got a photo at top of the rock cliff on a part that's like a bridge. Looks pretty scary right?? It was awesome!

This was the view from up there:

We got back in the car and drove to see a blowhole which was really cool, and so loud!

We went to a lookout and saw the views of the ocean and beaches. A movie was filmed at this lookout in 1989.

We then went to a village called Llanes and had tapas for lunch. We had chorizo sausage, squid, and calamari. Alejandro had apple cider, which is traditionally poured by the waiter from above without looking. I tried some and it was way too strong for me and Clara didn't want any, so Alejandro had the whole bottle to himself!

We walked through the town and saw the puerto (port) of Llanes. There was a bunch of large concrete blocks and some of them were painted. It was really cool.

The three of us sat down on the ledge and took some selfies. We then just laid there for awhile. It was really nice.

We walked to another lookout called Paseo de San Pedro. It was high up, we had to climb stairs to get to it, and it was really long and covered it grass. We sat on one of the benches and chatted for awhile.

On the way back we all shared a huge palmera (glazed pastry). We got back to the house, changed for dinner, and picked up Paula. We went to the town of Arenas, and stopped so I could get some photos of the mountains, before going to a bar.

We met up with Paula's boyfriend Carlos, his daughter, Guille, his friend, and Paula's best friend. I pretty much just sat there in silence because I had no idea what they were talking about in Spanish! We then went to a restaurant and I had a huge hamburger for dinner at 11pm.

The next day, us three amigos went to Alejandro's father's farm/plantation where they grow all their fruit like apples, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, peaches, kiwi fruit, pears, and gooseberries! We got to pick some blueberries, gooseberries, and peaches and eat them straight away.

Clara, Alejandro, Paula and I then went to visit an old bridge called Puente la Vidre. The water was so clear. It was gorgeous.

We then went to lunch and had a three course meal. For entree we shared patatas rellenas (beef mince filled potatoes), for main we shared cabrito (slow cooked goat), and for dessert we all shared lemon mousse, cheese flan, egg flan, and a biscuit and cream layered cake. The entree and main were so delicious and for dessert the cheese flan was my favourite. I was so incredibly full after that meal and I had my first Spanish food coma! We paid for Paula's lunch as a thank you :)

We then picked up Guille and headed for the beach! The beach we went to is called Playa de Toranda. It was overcast and cloudy but we laid down on the beach for our afternoon siesta after our huge lunch. The water was freezing so we didn't swim.

Clara, Alejandro and I then walked 1km to the famous nudist beach, Playa de Torimbia. We didn't go down to see it, we just saw it from above.

We then went to Carlos' house for a visit. His house has such a nice view of the mountains.

Clara, Alejandro and I then went to Alejandro's father's factory. He makes organic jams and juices from the local fruit. I bought a jar of blueberry jam, and a jar of apple jam! Now that I'm home, we tried them on toast for breakfast the other day and they are so yummy :)

Paula made us a three course meal for dinner since it was our last night. My second set of 3 courses in one day!! First we had fabada, which is a traditional dish from the north of Spain. It's soup with beans, chorizo, and black pudding. Then we had tortos con picadillo. It's like cornflour chips that you put spicy minced meat on. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of this because I was too busy eating! For dessert we had arroz con leche (rice pudding). It was all so delicious, Paula is such a good cook! I was so full, and I had my 2nd Spanish food coma for the day haha. I had a chance to skype Mum before going to bed.

On my last day in Asturias, Clara, Alejandro and I explored the seaside village called San Vicente de la Barquera.

 

Guille and his friend then picked us up and we went to a beach called Playa de Gerra. They had brought along a beach umbrella just for me so I wouldn't burn while they all worked on their tans. There was quite a bit of fog on the beach when we first got there. We felt the water but it was too cold for a swim for Clara and I. We stayed at the beach for about 5 hours. Clara, Alejandro and I then left for Torrelavega. We bought some food for the bus (empanadas and chocolate triangles, mmm), then we said goodbye to Alejandro. He was such a great guide to the north of Spain, and was full of so much information. Clara and I caught our bus back to Madrid. When we arrived at midnight it was 31 degrees!!

 

I still have to tell you all about my time in Madrid, but once again my blog post has gotten way too long!

 

Love,

Emily