So as the title implies, I took a long-weekend trip to the north of Spain. While there, I visited Oviedo, Gijón, and Santander. The abridged version: I'm in love. Northern Spain is absolutely beautiful, lying on the Atlantic coast and filled with green lush mountains - and vegetation!.. something I've come to miss since moving down to the desert. Every city I visited I loved more than the last. I also had the opportunity to learn about a new culture. Similar to the US, the north and south of Spain are very different in almost every way - climate, food, traditions, attitude, pace, and even language. The differences between the north and south almost mimic those in the US (or should I say, the differences in the US mimic those of Spain). The south has a much warmer climate, more laid back people, a twangy accent, and a very distinctive way of life. The north is much cooler, has less friendly people, and moves at a faster pace. The flora also has a bit of a New England touch, which made me feel right at home. I think I subconsciously feel more at home in the north.. I inherently feel more comfortable being impatient and in a rush!.. although this is in relevant terms, the "rush" here is nothing like the rush you find in New York. But it's certainly more "homey" than the slow pace of the south.
I'll describe my trip by breaking it down by city.
1st stop:
Oviedo
Elliot and I took an overnight bus to Oviedo. We left Badajoz around 10:30 PM. Thanks to a combination of having an exhausting day of work + nyquil, I was able to channel out the smell of B.O. and the piercing voice of crazy talkative old ladies, and pass out for the majority of the lovely 9.5 hours that I spent on the bus. I awoke at 7:30 the next morning feeling refreshed and ready for the day. We were met at the Oviedo bus station by a friend that we had studied abroad with in Sevilla. I must say he was a tour guide extraordinaire. We started off the day with a nice breakfast, then it was off to explore the city. We made a stop at the Museo de Bellas Artes to marvel at local art, and then continued through the cities main attractions - the cathedral, the government buildings, and parks. Although it had been rainy and cool during the previous weeks, we apparently had brought the sun and warmth up from the south, because we had a beautiful day. After a quick coffee, we decided to hike up a mountain that overlooks all of Oviedo. At the top were some quaint old churches.
After descending the mountain, it was time to experience a main Asturian tradition - Asturian cider (or "sidra"). Lucky for us, our friend lives just around the corner from the main street with all of the "sidrerías". Before trying our first taste, we had to learn proper cider etiquette. The cider is fermented with apples and yeast- no added sugar or carbonation. The cider is to be poured from over the bartender or waiter's head into a glass. Pouring from this height adds carbonation. It then has to be drank immediately before it loses the carbonation. Although the cider is tasty, I didn't much care for this. I prefer to slowly sip on a drink to enjoy the taste rather than chugging it down then sitting there with an empty cup. But you can't argue with tradition!
*note the pour, and also how quickly you must drink
2nd stop:
Gijón
Gijón is just about a half hour north of Oviedo, so it made for a perfect day trip. Again, the amazing weather stuck with us, so we were able to walk around and experience the sun and beautiful ocean views. We pretty much spent the day walking around a huge peninsula at the tip of the city to get panoramic 360 views of the ocean, coast line, and mountains that border the city. After exploring the main part of the city, coast line, and beaches, we enjoyed a nice bottle of cider in the perfect afternoon sun. Nothing too crazy or touristy, the best part of learning a new city is just walking around to see the sights. After a few hours, we headed back to Oviedo to get a good night's sleep before heading over to Santander.
view of city's main beach from peninsula
Last stop:
Santander
Santander is about 2.5 hours east of Oviedo, and on the coast. It's a fairly big city, although the sites worth seeing are in a pretty concentrated area. We opted to take a less expensive bus, but it took about 3.5 hours to get to there. It was quite an interesting ride. First of all, (as expected) we were winding through very narrow roads, through picturesque mountain valleys. It gave many photo ops, although unfortunately we were too slow to catch most of them. Within the first half hour, a lady got locked in the bus's bathroom for a good half hour. The lock on the door broke, and she couldn't get out until we had to stop the bus and break the door open. It was pretty comical, but I felt terrible for her. I probably would have broken down the door myself if it were me inside there. Then within the next hour, the girl behind me was throwing up. For anyone who knows me well, you know this was a very not OK situation for me. I handled it like a champ, and soon enough we were in Santander. We stayed in a pension that was within 10 minutes walking to the center. It wasn't a normal hostel. This older couple pretty much dumped us off in a room that was part of an apartment, and we never saw them again. It was cheap and easy, though. We pretty much did the same walking around thing here. We saw cathedrals, the government buildings, parks, and beaches. Similar to Gijon, Santader has a huge park that's on a peninsula. There's also a huge castle on top of a hill in the park. The park offered panoramic views of the mountains, bay in Santander, beaches, and city. After a million photos, we snaked our way down to a tiny beach where we opened a bottle of wine and watched the sunset. It was here that I went photo crazy with my obsession of sunsets. It was absolutely beautiful. The mountains in the background are like nothing I've seen before, and their silhouette over pink, purple, orange skies was breathtaking.
My favorite part of the trip
The next morning we woke up early to explore a bit more of the city before catching our flight back. This was one of my favorite trips and I was very sad to have to leave the north. My only regret is that I didn't have the time to see Bilbao and San Sebastian, but I guess can't see everything. Now I'm back in Badajoz, contemplating what my next trip will be :)
