Managed to squeeze some time in my itinerary to visit Carlos, an ex work colleague in his home town. Therefore had to make the longer journey to Stansted airport for yet another delayed Easyjet flight to Asturias, Spain. There the local police perform the immigration checks and they spent a good few minutes with a small magnifier and UV lamp to see if my passport was autentico or not. After that Carlos and his good friend Josen drove me to a nice hostel in Gijon (prononced Hihon) that Carlos had organised.
I was then given an orientation tour by Josen in his little red Seat car which Carlos calls "de tank" around Gijon which is the major town of the Asturias region before introductions to the local Cider drink.
Now the locals love this stuff and its cheap too, but the best fun is that they pour it from head height with one hand into a small cup held waist level with the other hand. This is meant to air it for a better taste before you skull the small quantity served leaving a small residue to chuck away. The true cider bars have a small open drain next to the bar inside for you to do this. Finished my first day in Gijon in the warm company of Carlos, Josen and his gf Christina though I really need to learn some Spanish as Carlos was running his throat dry with translating duties.
20/06/09
I was warned by a random guy from Asturias who I met in Florence that the weather is like London, grey and mild in summer; and unfortunately it was true yesterday but not today. Therefore Carlos and his granddad took me to experience churros dipped into a thick chocolate drink for my breakfast before taking me for a walk around Gijon. After a mandatory siesta (as the locals do), I met up with Carlos to catch the train to a small town called Mieres, where Carlos's mum was from. There was some festival there and so was happening (for a small local town anyway).
Afterwards met up with some people that Carlos knows back in Gijon for a late dinner at 11pm and some bar hopping afterwards…
21/06/09
Carlos jokes I must have brought the good weather as another exceptional day. Was kindly invited by Carlos's grandparents for some traditional food before I made my own way around the areas visited yesterday. This time I walked till the other side of the main Gijon beach and it was packed like Bondi beach, guess the sunshine is really rare around here.
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| Gijon |
22/06/09
Josen is such a nice guy, he should be the ambassador for Gijon! Note Gijon is only 30kms from the capital of Asturias called Oviedo, but the cities have a Sydney/Melbourne rivalry happening, except Josen takes his patriotic pride for Gijon to a high level as do most locals, so I heard.
Anyway he was going to show me and Carlos around Asturias in Christina's car for the day! We went to Convodonga (also happened to be name of the hostel I was staying in), this is the site where the “reconquest” of Spain by King Peloya started. Then we went for a nice lunch in Cangas de Onis near an ancient foot bridge of Roman era where I tried the local recipes Fabadas and Lomo meat. Onwards to Ribadesella, Lastres and lastly meeting up with Christina after her work in Oviedo. All along this trip there will be comparisons between Gijon and Oviedo, such passion about Gijon by Josen; Carlos was right joking about him being the face of Gijon tourism, not only that but he always knew someone on the street too. Finished the night (the sun sets here after 10pm!) at a free bird park in Gijon where there were some Emus! No Kiwis though...on that note I actually think I was the only Kiwi traveler and (probably asian too) in all of Asturias as foreign tourism has yet not taken off.
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| Asturias |
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| Oviedo |
23/06/09
All in all, Asturias reminds me of NZ, its relaxed, green, hilly, has small towns and clean air. Though it also has the many small bars like Melbourne, much better roads and trains, and the weather of London (good and bad). Most of all the people take pride in their state, I think they should promote more foreign tourism as they have the infrastructure in place. There was a hop on hop off tour bus in Gijon that was running around empty!
Lastly I would like to thank Carlos for organising my travels in Asturias; it was relaxing and insightful as well as being off the beaten track.
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