Portugal and Spain 2023

Gijon is just a half hour north of Oviedo, so we took a bus up there for the day. Our friend Matt Gallo used to live there, so we thought we'd check it out. It was rainy, but relatively warm. Like A Corunya, Gijon is situated on a small peninsula with harbors. But Gijon has some pretty nice beaches too. The city then grew south into the mainland. I think it's a little bigger than Madison, but it seems so much bigger with all the high rise apartment buildings. They don't have the luxury of land like we do in the states, so they build up.

We stopped at a classy cafe attached to a theater near the Paseo de Begona and had vermouth. Matt recommended it. We thought it might be a tad early for drinks but the old lady drinking a beer near the door assuaged our fears. Vermut de la casa is from the barrel and is a fun drink. It's a Sunday afternoon drink in Spain, but also a Wednesday noon drink for us. After that, we just wandered the streets admiring the architecture of many buildings.

Eventually, you'll stumble on the local mercado in a Spanish city, and it didn't take long for us to find Gijon's. This is a coastal town, so seafood is king. Sea Urchins are a specialty here, but we never did get a chance to try them. But I did see a horror-film worthy sight of a live crab in a plastic bag on a scale at the market. One pincer had pierced the bag. It did not want to be dinner. Look for the video in the link below, if you dare.

We walked towards a group of buildings we'd seen earlier from the park on the peninsula. They were across the bay. There were 3 buildings that looked like huge ocean liners near the shore. A highly recommended Asturian Sidreria (Cider House) took up the entire first floor of the one in the middle. Sidreria Tierra Astur Poniente did not disappoint. I don't know about the others, but this Cider House ruled. And yes, I've been waiting days to tell that joke.

Deanne has been doing the foodie research, lucky for me. We ordered the traditional Fabada, which is beans (fava?), blood sausage, chorizo, and a huge blob of pork fat. Enticing, rightr? This was probably peasant food back in the day, but it was the most delicious comfort food ever for a rainy Asturian day. It was like butter! I tepidly sampled the pork fat in the sizzling clay pot and kept going back for more. Deanne would have none of it, but it was amazing. We prepped for that by ordering a kilo of mussels in a vinagrette salsa of chopped onions, tomatos, and spices. The waitress served the cider manually, which was different from the soda doohickey we experienced in Oviedo yesterday. They make a show of extending their arm as far up as they can while pouring it in a glass in their other hand, which is low as they can reach. The cider is tart and only 6 % alcohol, so you don't overdo it sharing one bottle. It only cost about $3.50 we found out later.

We were day tripping, so we had time for one museum. There's a Roman thermal bath museum and an Asturian culture museum. We chose the latter because we've actually seen a few Roman thermal bath museums in other countries. We hopped on a bus and paid 1.50 each in cash to get across town. It's nice to be able to do that. In Scandinavia, you need an app or a metro pass as they don't use cash in many cities/countries there. For just one or two trips, cash is pretty easy. In Denmark last year, I spent a stressful half hour trying to download an app, get the credit card to work, and pay the local bus driver for a 20 minute bus ride. No cash was accepted. He let us on the bus and a young woman was about to offer to pay for us when the payment finally went through. It was a cell signal issue, but I tried 3 credit cards while troubleshooting. Ahhhh, technology. I love it/hate it.

The Asturian Peoples museum building itself is a monstrosity. I must be an architecture snob, because the entranceway is the least inviting doorway I've ever seen. Huge metal girders support an overhang 4 stories up. You have to walk through a maze of these metal girders to get to the door. It just looks like it's always closed, under construction, or abandoned. But we got to see it for free. The warehouse like museum contents weren't all that exciting - "Cooking utensils in Asturias throughout the ages." Seriously, there was 3 floors of this. On the last floor, they were highlighting paper towel dispensers.

But outside there were large grounds of ancient housing types, Ag implements, and cider houses, which was interesting. The best thing about the museum was the "Bagpipe Museum." It's in a separate building and houses a fascinating collection of the pipes. Asturians, like the Galicians, treasure their bagpipes. I'm lucky to have seen a live group playing yesterday on the street in Oviedo. Who knew that dozens of cultures from around the world had variations of the bagpipe? - And not just Celtic cultures either. Take an old goat bladder, stick some flutes in it, attach bellows from the fireplace, and you've got yourself a party.

We grabbed another bus back to the center and walked a bit more. It had been more than 2 hours since we'd been in a cafe, so we found a cozy one and grabbed some wine and enjoyed our last hour in Gijon. This was near the Alsa bus station, which conveniently whisked us back to Oviedo's station, which is only 4 blocks from our comfy apartment. I can't say Oviedo or Gijon should be on a traveler's Must Sees, but we are thoroughly enjoying these Asturian cities. We've got the time and tourist towns get really old really fast. It's great to just sample the food, drinks, and culture at a leisurely pace. If the entrance to a museum is the worst thing that happened to me today, then I'm doing pretty damn good.

We've got 2 more nights in Oviedo, and then we're heading to Bilbao for a night. That's Basque country, and we're stoked. Another language I can't understand? I'm in.

More photos and videos are here. https://photos.app.goo.gl/4xeLSZPnVEkapo7D8

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