ASTURIAS Y GALICIA {TRAVEL ASTURIAS AND GALICIA (SPAIN)}

1. There is a famous song in Spain which title is "Asturias", which is the name of the province we´re now. The song says "Asturias if I could, if I knew how to sing for you", "Asturias... mountains´ green and mine´s black"..., but it´s hard to feel the soul of the song if it´s translated. Asturias

1. Llanes is our first stop in this tour around the north of Spain. We´re in a very easy mood when we left San Sebastian that Sunday morning, the weather couldn´t be better. The town of Llanes has many places of interest besides a cute port, but I must say the best for me, were those beaches hidden behind huge rocks that invited us to jump in, but this is not today´s plan. Llanes was a significant fishing port from the fifteenth to the eighteenth century.

1. After lunch, we went inside the historic part of the town. From the XIII to the XX century, Llane´s economic life was based on commerce and fishing, becoming this one of the most important seaports of the North of the Peninsula, mainly due to the hunting of the whale, activity which generated a great social and economical development.

1. Light candles is also part of any of our walks through Churches and Cathedrals, women in my family have been doing this for ages.

1. We ended up our tour visiting "El Sablón" beach and the Cubes of Memory.

1. The Cubes of Memory, by the basque artist, Agustín Ibarrola can be found in the Port.

1. After one hour driving, we finally arrived in Oviedo (Capital of Principality of Asturias). We´re going to spend one night in this town.

1. A small tour around de city center before dinner. Campoamor Theatre infront of our hotel.

1. A pedestrian historic quarter makes strolling in oviedo a pleasure, from the University to the Cathedral, and from the palace of the Marquis to the Camposagrado. The tower of Oviedo´s Cathedral marks the starting point of any tour of the Principality capital Built in the Gothic style its tower and entrance portico guard the greatest symbols of Asturias. The University of Oviedo can be considered the last building in the historic quarter before arriving at the new districts.

1. The Old part of the city

1. Throughout Medieval Europe, the city was well-known as a stopping place for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela.

1. The historic "old town", is surrounded by modern sites and new suburbs.Oviedo is located in the centre of Spain´s largest coal-mining areas. Apart from mining, the steel industry is the second pillar of the Asturian economy. Much of the population is still employed in these two industries.

1. To have dinner, the cider boulevard, which is a street full of bars and small tapas restaurants where you can drink all the cider you want.

1. Our choice, a bar called "La Finca", where beside having some gorgeous potatoes and other delicacies, the cider comes automatically from its barrel, you push a green button and keeps the record of the times you´ve pressed it.....It´s the first time we saw this!!!!.

1. And in a small plaza, enjoying a wonderful temperature but completely empty (we really didn´t know where people was) we ended our tour. Where is everybody hiding?, August is supposed to be a month where all places you go are loaded.

1. The following day, we went to the market, it´s something I love to do early in the morning to buy products from the area. I´ll have to make a fabada one of these days.

1. After this visit to the market, we again took the car and drove towards Galicia.

1. We left Oviedo and Avilés. Crossed Ribadeo and arrived in Viveiro. We stopped in this beach below to take some pictures (Cedeiro beach).

1. The roof of the typical houses of this area, made of slate are hold with big stones in order not to move I suppose.

1. We stopped in Estaca de Bares and went to Ortigueira, we had lunch there.

1. We ate in the marina of Ortigueira. This is funny, it´s August and still we don´t see people around.

1. On our way to La Coruña, we pass near el Ferrol and the Pazo de Meirás but we didn´t feel like stopping by. We arrived in La Coruña in the evening. The city is a fiesta itself. Now we can see La Coruña is crowded due to the fiestas.

1. As soon as we´re settled, we went out for a walk around the city, starting in Mendez Nuñez gardens until the Castillo de San Antón, to go through the old part of the city and light some candles (again) in Santiago´s Church. Gardens are beautiful.

1. Along the wall towards the castle. City is quite easy at this hour.

1. It takes us around 1 hour to go from here to the old part, but the weather is fantastic and with this small tour we have the chance to enjoy the views. We´re back in the old part of the city, we´re ready to have a drink and find somewhere to have dinner.

1. It´s very common in here to have dinner with small portions and share them. We´re craving for products from here, so we had razor clams, octopus, fish pie (empanada gallega), cockles (berberechos) and of course tarta quesada, very typical from la Coruña.

1. I´m glad to see I´m not the only one who lights candles.

1. After a relaxed gin and tonic in this cool bar, Marita Ron, we go back to our hotel, it´s been a long day and this post too.