After being thoroughly spoiled by Armando's mother and sister (by the way, the stereotypes about Italian grandmothers also apply to Spanish mothers) and plied with a million different teas and these amazing toffee-and-chocolate biscuits called Moscovitas, we walked around the corner to his aunt's apartment, where we were staying for a couple of days, for yet another of my many late nights recently. Spain, you see, operates on a time zone about three hours later than the rest of Europe. I have no idea why. They just do.
Friday was field trip day. Armando packed a picnic basket full of food and he, his sister Laura and I piled into the car for The Visiting Australian's Guided Tour of Asturias. We started with the Roman bridge and the hanging cross that symbolises Asturias in...well, you know, I've forgotten the name. Oh, wait, Cangas. Yes, before you ask, it does sound like 'kangaroo'. This was followed by coffee, obviously. Then we headed up to the sanctuary at Covadonga. There's a giant red basilica there, and a holy cave where the first king of Castilla y Leon defended his army against the invading Moors.
After that it was time for lunch, taken on the mostly dry steps of an abandoned chapel in another small town, at which I tried empanada, 'pregnant bread', and casadiellas, like Spanish baklava, and which was of course followed by more coffee. Then it was a drive home through the misty, rainy Asturian mountains, stopping frequently to check out the views from beaches and vista points (and getting rather well-soaked in the process).
Saturday dawned cold and rainy, as usual, and Armando and I piled in the car for a driving tour of Asturias. It was lucky we planned the 'driving' part of it. The only English word to describe the weather was 'freak'. Branches all over the road, wind buffeting the car, rain and spray everywhere. We stopped a couple of times, but quickly retreated. It really was crazy weather. Instead we headed straight for Gijon to have lunch - eggs, chips and vegetables, with Gijonesa, a yummy local nougat cake, to follow. Nearly got blown off my feet on the way.
Picking up Laura from the Gijon train station on the way, we went to the aquarium for the afternoon. We had good fun laughing over the otters, turtles and sharks, while Laura and I imitated all the Finding Nemo fish as we found them ("My bubbles! My bubbles!"). It was dark by the time we left, and we made our sleepy way back to a pizzeria in Oviedo for drinks and dinner before another late Spanish bedtime.
Sunday was, unsurprisingly, family day. Around 11am (Spanish early morning time) Armando, his parents, his sister and I all piled into the car (again) for the 20-minute drive into the mountains to Armando's father's hometown. I conveniently managed to time my trip to Asturias for a local festival of cheese. Yes, I did try the cheese. I'm getting better on this whole European-cheese thing.
We walked around town for a while and visited his aunt and uncle (and all the aunts and uncles who dropped in on THEM) and his grandmother. I love small towns, but I've never seen one quite like this. It's a quintessential, out-of-the-way, rural, lost-in-time European thing on the side of a mountain. I loved those mountains. I felt like I was in the Sound of Music. Armando's mother in particular was thoroughly gratified by my desire to take one or more of said mountains home.
Leaving Armando's parents to a long family lunch, we said goodbye and headed into Oviedo, capital of Asturias, for the day. After a lazy lunch at a nearby shopping centre, we began the drive to the top of the hill above Oviedo, where there's a Rio-style giant statue of Jesus Christ and amazing views over the city. With Laura asleep in the backseat, we drove back down the hill and headed into the centre of Oviedo for a walking tour.
We started, of course, with a coffee. Then we began traipsing around Oviedo. We passed by the shop that sells the toffee-chocolate biscuits that Armando's mother gave me on my first night there, so I decided to buy some to take back to France. We made our way to the cathedral, but we didn't stay long on account of the service. We wandered the town for a while, until Armando and Laura decided it was time for the promised excursion to the sidreria to try the sidre - that is to say, Asturian cider-time.
Asturian cider is an experience in itself. It's poured...well, look up the photos on Google. There's a lot of mess involved, and you have to drink it fast. It's better than stuff we call cider, but it's still alcohol, so, well...still didn't like it. I did try, though, which is the key thing.
Tired, we walked slowly back to the car and headed home to Mieres, where Laura gave me a short tour of the neighbourhood while Armando dropped in to see his parents, before walking back to our apartment to eat a late dinner and pack for an early flight the following morning.
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| The Roman bridge in Cangas |
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| The sanctuary at Covadonga |
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| Stingray! |
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| Pinguino! |
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| Views from above Oviedo |
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| Mountains in La Foz |
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| Churches on the hillside |
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