Asturias

Jonathan and I decided to take a little mini-vacation to Asturias, a region in northern Spain.  Nila, a close friend of Jonathan's mother currently lives there and we had been graciously invited to stay with her and visit the area.  Asturias is a naturally beautiful region of Spain.  It is an area well known or it's beaches and steep coastal cliffs.  Also, to the south are the Cantabrian Mountains.  We took a 11 hour bus ride to Nila's home in Pravia and had a blast looking at all of the views.  We traveled inland through Galicia and drove through the city of Ourense, which looks awesome (my art teacher is from there and told me some cool stuff about it there too).  We also drove along the Ribiera Sacra, a wine region in Spain.  The road we took follows alongside of the river, which was in itself awesome.  But all along the river banks and the steep hills were small vineyards.  We are definitely excited to check out this area with some friends this summer.  Then I fell asleep for a few hours, so I'm sure there's some other sweet stuff to see, but I just don't know what it is :).  We then headed north into Asturias, driving literally through the Cantabrian Mountains.  The road was narrowly paved in between the mountains and we got to go through all of these sweet tunnels through them.  All I wanted to do the whole time was make the bus stop so I could get out and get pictures! 

Our first day there we went for a tour around Pravia, which is a smaller town.

After lunch that day Jonathan and I took the train to Aviles, a mid-size city in Asturias, to walk around and get a drink together.

The next day we took the train into Gijon, a large city in Asturias.  It was super cold that day, like 40 degrees cold! (I do have to say, I felt a little silly feeling cold when I got back home and realized that it had been like negative 5 in Buffalo the last few days).  All of the women were walking around in fur coats, which I admit I now have a huge desire for.  Christina, my art teacher, told me that there's a second hand shop where you can get em super cheap.  So who knows, maybe I'll arrive back to the states in Chinchilla? :)  Gijon is largely known for it's beautiful beach and during the summer is absolutely packed with tourists.  When we went, the winds had picked up so much that the beaches no longer existed and the waves were crashing up onto the sidewalks.  Even though we didn't get to see the beaches, we had a lot of fun watching the waves crash and playing with photography.  And then we went and got some churros to heat up before catching the train back to Pravia.

The next morning we went to Violeta, Nila's sister's bakery in Pravia.  This bakery has been family owned for three generations.  All of their stuff is done either by hand or with these awesome old machines.  I had a blast in the back taking pictures and watching them make the desserts.  I also had quite possibly the best croissant and cafe con leche of my life.  :)  There is a cafe in the front of the bakery where all of these old ladies come to gossip and have breakfast.  In the pictures below you'll also notice a mounted boar's head on the wall.  Violeta's husband hunts and where better a place to display his trophy kill?!

That afternoon Jonathan and I went around with Nila, her sister Conchita, and Conchita's husband to see some of of the smaller local coastal towns.  Usually in the summer these towns are mobbed with tourists so it was a real treat to be able to visit them in the winter.  They were practically empty and shut down, but there's something special about having an entire stretch of beach to yourself :)

 It was awesome to wander around the coasts.  At a few of the beaches there were look out points to climb up.  Here are some photos I took at one of them.  It felt like the end of the earth. 

Cute little self portrait, eh?

So on our last night, Jonathan and I went to Oviedo, the capital city of Asturias.  We wandered around the city for a few hours and then stopped in a bar to get a cider.  Most of the cider in Spain is produced in Asturias.  When you go to a bar and order a class of cider, they pour it from high up so that the drink is aerated.  They don't carbonate the cider, but the pouring process adds a nice little fizz to it.  I had a riot watching our waiter pour our cider.