"When you go there, you'll feel like you're not even in Spain"

This last weekend I finally made my way up to the North of Spain! I went with a friend from Kansas, Elizabeth, who’s doing the same program as me in a town nearby…Baena! Anyways we found a cool promo deal online and decided to go for it, hence our trip up to ASTURIAS. The whole weekend was full of giggles and craziness so I’m sure the Spanish people had an interesting opinion of Americans after our visit :) Asturias, for those who don’t know, is in the very North of Spain and the specific place we went to, Llanes, is located right along the coast. We actually stayed in a small town outside of Llanes called Barro but all the towns are along the coast and have just stunning views!

FRIDAY (starting at midnight):

Well our first mission was to make our way up there to Llanes and the following is how we did it:

First I caught the midnight bus up to Madrid which got me there at 5am, then caught the subway at 6am (when it opened) to arrive at the airport at 7am, where I met up with Elizabeth. I then found out she had to take the train up to Madrid from Cordoba because the bus was full so she had been at the airport since 1am…and our flight left at 9am- fun. Basically by the time I arrived and met with her we were about half conscious and half extremely dysfunctional…let me demonstrate…we headed over to security and went though (I had completely forgotten that I needed to check my bag because of size restrictions and liquids I had inside). We made it through security with only one problem…Elizabeth had one container with face wash in it and she was told they would have to “destroy it.” Apparently that means throwing it in the trash but don’t you just love it. I on the other hand managed to get through (not on purpose though) with a LITRE size bag full of “large” liquid containers…not sure how that happened but its Spain, what can you say.  Well, after all of that we caught our plane to Oviedo (took about an hour) and both of us were KNOCKED OUT. Neither of us woke up until the plane literally hit the ground for landing. We were just a *bit* tired…The next leg of the journey was a 45min bus ride from the airport into the city and from there 1.5 hour bus ride from Oviedo to Llanes. We were almost to our hotel at that point. Then we just had to catch a taxi to our hotel in Barro (10min drive away). FINALLY we had made it…12 hrs later.

Now to get into the fun parts (and pics!)

the hill we climbed

We were finally situated in our hotel but needed to grab some lunch. We headed to a restaurant right next to the hotel AND on the beach! After filling our faces with food we wandered along the beach and found a big hill to climb up, I mean what else do you do with a big hill on the ocean! We made our way up to the top until we decided there were “too many ferns and spiders,” took lots of pics and then headed back down the hill. On the way down we were looking for where we had come up…where there was land but on the climb down, well, it just wasn’t there anymore. We had apparently climbed up an island haha. Of course we’re smart college grads so we figured how to get off this island. We had to walk through the water, so we just took off our shoes and moved fast because the tide was coming in. We found out, or rather I found out, that what seemed to be 1 ft deep water at first became 3+ foot water. Basically I left with pants wet up to the crotch. 
 








After this ‘incident’ we giggled our way back to our hotel to change. That’s where we found out what real skinny jeans are:

The island adventure didn’t curb our interest to explore though; we got back out to discover new sites and trails. With the idea in mind that we would walk into Llanes (we were told it could be done in 40min) we meandered along the Camino de Santiago making lots of stops along the way. The Camino de Santiago is a trail that TONS of people do every year. It ends/starts somewhere in the North of Spain and makes its way into France and from there I have no clue. Along the whole trail there are camping areas and hostels for these travellers to stay. 
Ok, back to the story…we made our way to almost every beach along the way just admiring the beauty of the Asturias coastline (it’s truly remarkable). We also managed to find a small marsh like area where we stopped just to watch the birds bathe and listen to the peaceful landscape. Along our journey we also ran into a few cows, the majority with real cow bells around their necks. I’d never seen that before so I thought I was quite funny that they actually use those bells.

Along with the many beaches we stopped on we also made it through a few small towns, our favourite was called “Poo”. We loved it both for the name and also because it was super cute and small, it looked like less than 50 people lived there.

We finally made it into Llanes, a couple hours later and decided we should probably grab some dinner. We used the common strategy of “look for a bar where there are lots of people” and we found one, so we stopped there to eat. That’s where we had our first bottle of ‘sidra’ which in English is cider. Cider is typical of the north of Spain but it is VERY different from any cider I’ve ever tried…and I’m from the state of apples! Their cider is what I would call very “natural” or my nickname for it ‘sock juice’. It wasn’t too bad but it didn’t have a sweet flavor that both Elizabeth and I are used to…it was actually pretty comical to watch her drink it because she found it less than pleasing BUT we had a whole bottle to finish so…

That night she learned how to drink something and not taste it (by avoiding breathing through your nose…it’s a good trick in those situations). Besides the cider we needed to eat some real food. Our options in that bar: whole fried fish (big ones), cheese or sausage. We opted for some cheese, asking for a SMALL plate of cheese…and what came out…what was a plate of cheese that I would not call very small. So that was our nutritious dinner, 4 different types of cheese, they were pretty good though.  Together we finished the plate of smelly cheese and cider while the others in the bar kept looking at us and thought we were crazy for eating a plate of cheese at 11pm…

SATURDAY:

The package deal we had purchased included 2 nights at a hotel, 2 excursions plus a few extras (like meals and cider tasting)…So on Saturday morning we met with the group at 9:45am to go on the 1^st excursion. That day we were headed to the Picos de Europa, so basically the mountains. We had an hour plus ride out to the Natural Park, where the Picos de Europa are located, and parked on one of the mountain roads. From there we walked about 2 hours along trails and through a cow ‘field’ in order to make it to our destination point. The walk there was absolutely beautiful but our end site was spectacular. We were surrounded by grass fields in this mountainous area and we could see clouds below...and even right next to us. It was also a wonderfully sunny day yet there was still a touch of snow in the cracks of the rocks (a bit higher than where we were though). While the others in our group sat down and took a break from walking, Elizabeth and I climbed up the rock that we were right next took and took some goofy pics. After a bit of playing around in the mountain we headed back to the vehicle. The only thing I hadn’t realized is that with all that sun and no sun screen...well that combination with my skin is not always good- I ended up getting a really bad sunburn on my neck without even noticing (well, until later that day).

the cow was following us up the trail

they're just TOO cute

the rocks we climbed up

After we got back to the car we headed over to a restaurant to have a really nice, and big, lunch. First we tried some of the typical cheese (which me and Elizabeth had already tried the night before, it’s similar to blue cheese), stewed beans (fabadas), meat/fish dish and then typical arroz con leche from there (which to me tastes the same as the Mexican version just not as sweet). Afterwards we had to wobble our way out of there and headed towards town...but first we stopped at a “cider factory.” It was just a room where they make the famous cider, which we got to try as well (Elizabeth just loved it haha). Then we crossed the street to stop in a typical old bar with old men playing cards. We were told they stay there for hours and hours playing, they’re basically ALWAYS there. Also at this bar are items that people in the town make and hang there to sell (there were things like wooden shoes, cow bells, homemade socks and more). They literally hang everything on the ceiling for people to check out and buy.

We picked up a few items and then headed back to the hotel. It was already 7 or so at night and we were all exhausted from such a long day and lots of walking. The rest of the night Elizabeth and I just spent sitting in the room, relaxing a watching TV. We didn’t even leave for dinner because of how full we were from lunch!

SUNDAY

We both had a very restful night and were ready for our last day in Asturias! We met up with the group at 10am and headed out on a different excursion. We also mentioned to the group that the night before we ended up staying in the room and not even leaving. They’re response “you’re super heroes”...not sure I’ve heard that one before but I’ll take it. So us superheroes and the others headed on a hike along the coast of Llanes and the surrounding pueblos. It was a much more relaxing day because we simply had less time (the outing ended at around 2pm). We all walked along a few different beaches, all amazingly beautiful, and kept making our way to more. The views were all incredible and I could have spent hours just sitting there looking at the scenery and listening to the waves rolling up onto the beach and crashing into the rocks nearby. The whole landscape was just filled with cliffs that went straight into the ocean. Here are some pictures to see exactly what it looked like:

the whole group

such beautiful beaches!

After a few hours we had to head back. When we arrived to the car everyone piled in and we headed back to the hotel. We had mentioned to the tour guide (I completely forget his name!) that we were going to head back to Llanes to catch our bus later that day so he just offered us a ride into town...so we grabbed our bags inside the hotel and went along with him. 
He was also kind enough to let us store our stuff in the hostel (where he took many people on excursions like ours) AND show us some a great place to eat in town AND took us over to the famous beach and park. He was absolutely great and I would recommend going on a trip with him if you’re in the area. The website to do any of the many different activities (such as canoeing, hiking, snowshoeing, etc) is: Rumbo a Picos and there they also have promo deals for hotels, food and activities (just like what we did). ALSO in case you want info about the hotel as well...we stayed in Hotel Miracielos and the staff was incredibly nice! The whole deal was just amazing!

Ok, getting back to the rest of the trip...

After getting dropped off in Llanes and getting a small tour of the city we checked out the Paseo de San Pedro. It looks like a really long park but is right along the coast so the backdrop is the ocean. Right next to the Paseo were los Cubos de la Memoria, they’re a bunch of cement block along the port in Llanes that are considered a work of art and a tourist attraction. Why? Because they have been painted, in bright colors, with items “from” Asturias; just things that people think of when they think of the province such as apples, cheese and trees. The artist was Agustin Ibarrola and these blocks/cubes are considered a cultural and historical part of Llanes.

At that point we realized that we needed to grab some lunch so we headed to the restaurant we were recommended. I’m sure glad we went because the food was GOOD and the staff was also very nice. I’m pretty sure everyone we dealt with in Llanes were all really nice, even the woman selling tickets in the bus station was super friendly (and that’s a rarity). 
We filled up on our delicious meal and then headed to the bus station (of course dropping by the hostel first to grab our things). We got on the bus and we were on our way home. Nothing really exciting happened from there, just the same 1.5hr bus to Oviedo, 45min bus to the airport, then a 1hr flight and a 1hr ride on the metro followed by the overnight bus to our towns. We were so relaxed from the wonderful weekend that the travelling went by extremely fast. I’m pretty sure neither of us were ready to leave either, just a few more days in Llanes would have been great but I guess that leaves something to look forward to next time I come back to Spain!