Random Comments

A few comments, in no particular order:

1.  I noticed a lot more efforts to be handicapped accessible this time - curb cuts, ramps, and accessible restrooms, even in remote areas and small towns. I didn't really need those accommodations this time, but they were nice to see.

2.  Every shower I used operated in exactly the same way.  That is a minor miracle all by itself.  Sometimes the method of turning the spray on was different (but obvious) but the temp and water pressure control was the exact same.

3.   I need to prepare a bit more for Vaughantown.  Little giveaways, a better set of pictures of family, house, & town, maps, etc., would be nice to have.  I should also prepare a presentation of some kind.

4.  Also nice to have would be a small salt shaker (and pepper - they don't put that on that table), extra toothpaste (2), a better data plan, Tums, and maybe a 2nd clothesline.

5.  My clothes selection was almost perfect.  I grabbed the wrong pair of black pants from my closet and ended up with some a size too small (those went in the trash).  I had three short sleeved shirts, one t-shirt, one 3/4 length, one long sleeve, one pair of jeans, one denim capri, t-shirt-and-shorts pjs(which doubled as swimsuit coverup), 5 underwear, 3 short white socks, 2 black crew socks, sandals, windbreaker, 1 bra, swimsuit.  I traveled in yoga pants, short sleeve blouse, athletic shoes, black cardigan.  I also had my "emergency" t-shirt and underwear in my carryon bag.  If I had not thrown the black pants away, I would have worn them, but I easily did without them, too.  The sweater was great on the plane, as a jacket, and for the chilly hotel in Belmonte., and was a little less "American" than the windbreaker (which I only wore when it was rainy).

6.  I took my camera but didn't use it.  Using my phone was handy, but had some limitations, like difficulty in transferring pictures to my netbook (which has no card reader, either, since it is actually a tablet with a keyboard).

7.  The netbook was surprisingly heavy.  I would choose an actual netbook next time.  My last one was significantly lighter and had a card reader and ethernet port.

8.  Against my better judgement, I took a small umbrella.  Had it with me one day, but never used it.  Leave it at home next time.

Hasta Luego, Madrid!

I have begun my long day getting home.
I always forget what a hassle getting through the process at the airport can be . I'm having a small problem with my Delta app, and it isn't showing me my ATL-BMI flight, but got checked in for that flight and had the boarding pass emailed to me instead.

I took the shuttle from my hotel (Hotel Nuevo Boston), and though I was let out at the Delta end of the terminal, I walked clear down to the other end and back before I found it. I had to go through security three times - once because I had my passport and phone/boarding pass in my hand (had to go back for a bin), then I had to go back again because my netbook was in my carryon bag instead of out (different airports, different rules).  Every time, because I beeped the machine, I had to be patted down.   You would think after the first (or even the second) time they would skip that, but no.

Then it was the immigration/passport line, and finally another passport/boarding pass check by Delta just before the gates.  All in all, it took just about an hour and a half.  I was glad I had taken the 8:00 shuttle for my 11:00 flight.

In Atlanta, after immigration (automated), picking up my checked bag, customs, and dropping my bag off again, we had to go through yet another security check.  Really?  We just got off of a secured plane.  What is the point of going through security again??  That one took nearly an hour - an hour!  A friend came to meet me at the airport (the Sky Club people strongly suggested that I not leave the airport because Friday traffic in Atlanta might make it difficult to get back on time).  It was great to see him, but it also meant going through security yet again to get back to the gates.

Now I am showered, diet Coked, and waiting for my last leg home.

Surprise, surprise!

I had to get up at the verrry early hour of 6:45 this morning, in preparation for breakfast, checking out of the hotel, and driving to Valladolid.  Next week I will go back to my seriously early rising hour of 3:15, but right now 6:45 seems awfully early.

I really enjoyed my stay at my hotel, and I will plan to stay here when I come back. I will also write them an excellent review on TripAdvisor.  It is nice to be in one place for several nights.  I was a little worried about getting everything packed into my bags since I had spread out so much, but all is well. Just a little fine-tuning tonight, and I will be ready to fly in the morning.

It rained a good bit of the way. Not far from Leon, the land became very flat, and I realized it has been awhile since I have seen flat land.  :)  We started to see solar farms and wind farms.  Jorge had found out that the "surprise" was only open on the weekends, but he made a call to see if maybe we could see it, anyway.  It was at least a possibility, so we continued on to the tiny village of Wampa (which Jorge says is the only town whose name starts with W).  When we arrived, we went in search of something to drink and ended up in a tiny bar with no electricity.  Hmm.  But they still had hot coffee and cold diet Coke so it hadn't been off long.  We walked back to the surprise, which was a church with something special to see inside.  Jorge called his contact again, but we were out of luck - the power was out all over. So I had to get my surprise via Google.  The church has a room full of bones and skulls from monks who lived there centuries ago.  Too bad we missed it! 

We went on to Valladolid, found a place to park the car near the cathedral, and walked to our first stop, the home of Miguel de Cervantes.  He lived here over 400 years ago, and was living here when the first edition of "Don Quixote" was published.  It was really interesting.  Next door there was a special display about Cervantes, and I found I could read much of it.  When I commented on this, Jorge said, "Well, it is meant for children."  It did have a certain comic book quality to it, but I didn't care - I could read it!

We found that we could get a combo ticket for the house and the sculpture museum, which was our next stop, so they were nice enough to let us change for the combo.  It was too late to get there, though, before they closed for lunch, so we decided to have lunch, too.  Free refills at Burger King!!!  I have never seen free refills anywhere in Spain.  Usually, you get a tiny little bottle, poured over ice, with a slice of lemon.

After lunch we walked back to the cathedral to take pictures and just hang out until time for the museum.  They are setting up for a festival this weekend, apparently, San Pedro.  There was a big music stage set up, lots of vendors setting up shop, and blocks of little craft booths (not yet open).  Looks like it will be a good time!

At 4:00, the museum reopened.  We were so sorry that we didn't know just how big and wonderful it is, because we could only spend a little over an hour before I had to get to the train station.  There was so much to see!  And as Jorge said, you really need time to study everything.  It was disappointing, but we made a quick trip through.  He will come back with Gema and Paula later.

A quick walk back to the car, then it was off to the train station, which wasn't really that far away but was hard to get to.  I arrived in Madrid in a little over an hour.  I had had tentative plans with one of the Spaniards for dinner, but that had fallen through, so I was headed out to get a taxi to my hotel, when who should appear in front of me but the Spaniard herself!  I had absolutely no idea she was going to be there, and I was thrilled to see her!  We went to dinner, then she brought me to my hotel.  That was so nice of her - and an incredible surprise!

I just checked in for my flight, and the hotel shuttle is booked for first thing in the morning.  My flight leaves Madrid at 11:05.  It has been such a great time, even when things didn't go completely to plan.  I'm anxious to be home but also can't wait to come back.

And guess what? Phone, passport, wallet, sweater - all accounted for!

The Lakes are Real!

My last full day in Asturias - for this trip.  :)

We had a couple of options for today, but we finally decided to go to the Picos de Europa to see if we could see the lakes.  The weather was a bit of a question, but it was clear and sunny in Mieres, so we thought we would try it.  As we approached, there were a few clouds on the mountaintops, but we did finally get to see the lakes!  On my first trip to Asturias in 2007, we only got to see fog.  But there really are beautiful lakes up there.  We stopped at the top of the mountain and walked around, taking pictures.  There were cows all over - they live up here for part of the year - and I love the sound of their bells.  There were also a couple of dogs running around.  It was fun to watch them run as fast and as far as they wanted, then come running back.  One of them was a kind used to herd sheep and cows up here.  I wonder what the puppies from my 2012 visit are doing now?  They would be four years old, so maybe they are herding cows of their own.

There is still a lot of snow on the higher, more distant peaks, but we didn't try to see if we could see them better because we could see that the clouds were closing in there.  The steep, narrow mountain roads were enough for me without adding fog.  On the way down, we saw Covadonga, where we had been nine years ago, on a gloomy, misty day.  I wanted to see it in the sunshine, so we went back.  We went inside the church, where Jorge's parents were married, to look around for a few minutes.  Covadonga is a very special place in the hearts of the Asturian people.  Of all the areas in Spain, only Asturias was never conquered by another people, and Covadonga was where they stood their ground.  We had hoped to go all the way into the cave this time, but once again, there was mass going on.  Instead, we sat outside, just beneath the chapel, which is visible in the open side of the cave.

The gift shop was closed, apparently for remodeling, which disappointed Jorge because he always buys something there - a little personal tradition.  We then decided to get a bocadillo (sandwich) somewhere nearby.  Just as we started to eat, one of the men working there got a phone call telling him that his mother is dying.  The man was crying and trying to talk on the phone - very sad and distressing to hear, particularly after our scare yesterday. (Jorge's mother was completely unaware of the fuss.  She had not slept well, and had taken a sleeping pill after breakfast - she's fine.)

Once back in Mieres, I did a little bit of shopping, and then we went to say goodbye to Gema and Paula.  We also visited "Suzie" the Suzuki, the motorcycle that Jorge is now planning, a little reluctantly, to sell. Now I am getting organized for my check-out tomorrow.  I have the day in Valladolid, then on to Madrid.  I fly home on Friday morning. I am not sure yet whether I will be having dinner with one of the Spaniards tomorrow night, but I most likely will be having dinner in Atlanta on Friday with a friend during my layover there.

It's been a good trip.  I told Jorge today that if I get home from a vacation and I need a vacation, it was a good vacation.  It's been one of those, for sure.

Cerrado (Closed)

The theme for today is "closed".  We set some kind of record for finding things that were closed today, but we still did most of what we intended to do, and had a good time (with a bad time thrown in toward the end - more about that later).

We were headed to Playa de Las Catedrales, a beach in Galicia where you can see arches formed in the rocks by waves.  During high tide you cannot go down onto the beach, but during low tide you can walk among the huge rocks and see the arches.  Jorge wanted to time our visit to get there at low tide, so we had some time to waste along the way.  We stopped at a place called Illa Pancha to see a couple of lighthouses.  It was so windy up there, I was glad that at least I was wearing jeans (though I left my jacket in the car).  We had hoped to see the flowers around the lighthouses in full bloom, but probably missed it by a week or two.  Still, it was very pretty.

Then we went in search of a restroom, but there were none along this coastal route.  We stopped in the town of Rinlo in hopes of using the facilities at a restaurant that Jorge knew of, but....it was closed.  So we moved on to Las Catedrales.  The first set of public restrooms by the parking lot was....closed.  We found some open in the little restaurant, thankfully, because things were getting desperate.  After visiting the bar's facilities, we walked down a long staircase to the beach, along with several tour buses of other people.  The tide was out, but the path to the arches was blocked by a deep pool of water left behind by the tide, and a slanted, sand-covered, slippery, wet rock that people were attempting to climb over.  The pool was too deep to wade through (especially in jeans, even rolled up), and the wet rock wasn't a good option, either, for me.  I decided to just hang out on the beach where I was and let Jorge go over and take his pictures.  I helped a lady down from the rock who kept saying that she was wearing the wrong shoes (she was), and then, because she thought I spoke Spanish, she stood there and talked to me for a minute.

Then I just decided to roll up my pant legs, take off my sandals, and wade in the water.  The tide was continuing to go out, and before very long it looked like it might be possible to get around the rock via the water instead.  Minutes clicked by and I kept trying to see how far out I could walk, until I could see a keyhole in the rock.  A few minutes later, I could go out far enough to see that it was an arch, but it was still too deep to wade through to get around.  Finally, the waves receded enough to finally get around the rock and onto the other part of the beach.  I looked for Jorge but didn't see him (the tour buses were gone by now, but he was probably in one of the caves).  I made my way back to the other part of the beach to wait.  It was very pleasant to be wading in the water in northern Spain watching people taking pictures of each other.  Except for other people trying to get around the rock, though, I was the only one in the water.  It seemed like I had been there for quite awhile, and I hadn't seen Jorge come back, so I turned my data on in case he tried to text me.  Finally, I heard someone yelling, though I couldn't make out what they were saying.  I looked around, still not seeing Jorge, and then I spotted him up on top of the cliff, near the parking lot, waving his arms.  He didn't see me when he came back from the other side of the rock, but I might have been passing through on the other side at that time.  So I trudged up the stairs again, barefoot this time, to meet up with him.

Just before leaving Asturias, we stopped in Ribadeo to have lunch at a place called Gallipizza.  Jorge wasn't about to have a pizza, since he doesn't eat cheese, but he said they have great hamburgers (his was actually an ox burger).  I had a "small" four cheese pizza made with local cheeses that I had never heard of before - Arzua, San Simon Galician cheese, O Cebreiro cheese, and Tetilla Galician cheese.  It was really good, but the "small" turned out to be half of 16" pizza!  I brought two of the four pieces back with me.

Then we went to see a castro - the biggest in Asturias.  A castro is a place where you can see the remains of pre-Roman Celtic houses and other buildings that were part of a town surrounded by a wall and a moat.  This particular castro, at Coana, has the remains of about 80 homes.  We could see it up on the hill, and were excited to get there.  But...it was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.  We decided to walk down there anyway, to see what we could see.  At the end of the path, what we could see was a tall, green wire fence with locked gates.  Dang!  We planned to try to stop on the road where we had a view of it before to at least get a picture if we could.

But as we got to a stopping point, Jorge received a call that no one had able to reach his mother today - her phone was off the hook and her shades were down.  Of course, our minds went to the worst place first, and we quickly headed straight back toward Mieres.  It was a very tense ride for 45 minutes or so, until someone was able to check on her, and found her sleeping soundly.  Whew.

We stopped in Aviles just before the good news phone call came, and we stayed a few minutes to see Niemeyer Center, a performing arts center and exhibit space designed by Oscar Niemeyer, a Brazilian architect (who won a Prince of Asturias award in 1989).  The center opened in 2011, and has an exhibition dome, a sightseeing tower, and an auditorium for performances, as well as an all-purpose building where the box office is.  It is very "Jetzons".  After taking pictures, we went up in the sightseeing tower to have something to drink in the cafe, but....it was closed.  Not only closed, but empty.  So back down we went.  We stopped in the box office building to use the restroom, and the men's room was.....closed.  Jorge had to use the women's.  I waited outside until he was out, but unknown to us, there was a woman in there when he went in.  Hahaha!  I don't know if she saw him.  Our last stop was something we forgot to do yesterday in Oviedo.  We visited a church that is now a skateboard park!  The inside has been painted all kinds of colors, and they built ramps.  Jorge says it's on the Red Bull website, and he has photographed inside when it first opened.  Now, though, it costs 5 euros to go in (!).  So we just peeked in the door until we were noticed, and a kid came to ask if we wanted to come in (for a price).  I told Jorge I would skateboard if he would, but he said no.  Imagine that!

In a little while I will walk down to Jorge's house for dinner.  Tomorrow, we plan to go to Los Lagos, the lakes in Picos de Europa park.  The last time we went there, the view was completely shrouded in fog, and all we saw were the cows we passed on the road.  This time, we hope the weather will cooperate.

Camino Boot Camp, Part III

Jorge was alone when he picked me up this morning because Gema was working.  They are also in the process of buying a new car.  It is different in Spain than in the States.  They have to transfer the down payment from their bank to the dealership, then once that is done, the dealership gets the plates, and has the insurance changed.  Once all pieces are in place, the dealership calls and tells them it is ready to pick up.  They think this will happen on Thursday, but that is the day that we will be in Valladolid taking me to the train back to Madrid (among other things), so they won't get it till Friday.

We decided not to go too far today.  We drove to Oviedo, where we went to see a couple of churches outside of town that are from the 8th and 9th centuries.  After we parked, it was a bit of a hike up.  I told Jorge that I feel like I am in "Camino Boot Camp", constantly walking up and down hills.  My biggest problem is just having to stop to breathe, but I think that is mostly due to needing to lose weight, not because of a real medical problem.  My knees are good, and I am really not tired or sore the next day at all.  When we got up to the first church, whose name escapes me at the moment, we discovered that we actually could have driven up there, as several others did.  There was a steep dirt track up to the building from the road.  I took a longer, though less steep, route up through the grass.  When Jorge came up, I asked if he had taken the dirt track, and he said no, he had taken the paved path.  Oh.  Didn't see that.  We were just in time for the guy to come and unlock the building so we could go inside.  They have an alternating schedule for opening the buildings, for 20 minutes at a time.  Our visit in the first church was at 12:30.  Then at 1:00, the same guy came to the other church to unlock that one for a few minutes (they are very close together).  We took all kinds of pictures, though at the second one we were not allowed to photograph inside.  The only reason that I could see for that was that the second one had places where you could still see some of the original painted designs that used to cover the whole ceiling and walls.  As we came out of the second church, someone speaking English told their friend that "now they had fabada to look forward to for lunch".  Jorge told him that was our plan, as well.  But we still had something else to see.

Jorge said that the next place we were going was actually uphill from the first church, so he walked down and got the car while I waited for him to drive back.  Up, up, up we went, on a tiny, twisting road.  The blind corners were a little scary, I have to admit, especially since I was on the outside edge of the road.  We arrived at the top to find that we needed to cut across to the next peak to see what we came to see - the statue of Christ at the top of the mountain, and an incredible view of Oviedo.  This time, instead of parking and walking over and up, we drove all the way to the base of the statue.  The view of Oviedo and the mountains was unbelieveable.  So was the cold wind (with me in capris and sandals).  The "love locks" thing has come here, too, and there were numerous locks hanging from the metal railing, some with names and dates, all signifying some couple's undying love.  The locks made the railings ring like chimes in the wind.

Then it was time to go back into town to find a place for fabada, a traditional Asturian dish of beans, ham, chorizo, and morcilla sausage.  Jorge knew of a place that was famous for its fabada, so that's where we went.  It is in the Michelin guidebook, in fact.  It wasn't easy to get to, since there were several places where we were rerouted by roadwork, and the traffic was crazy.  But when we sat down, guess who we saw at the back table - the same group from the church!  We said hello when they walked by on their way out, and the guy said, "I guess we really did have the same plan!"

The beans were served separately from the meats, so you could add what you wanted.  I chose only ham, and Jorge had all three.  Absolutely delicious!  It was sort of breathtakingly expensive, but a really memorable meal.  And it's not like I do this every day.  Dessert was rice pudding covered with a layer of crunchy burnt sugar and cinnamon.  I couldn't finish mine - it was just too much food!  We lingered there for maybe an hour, then came back to Mieres.  I took a little siesta, and Jorge went to take care of something at his work.

We met back up at 7:30 so that he could take me to the ATM and a grocery store.  On our way, at the end of his block, we saw Paula with three of her friends.  The minute she saw him, all four scooted into a doorway, and were on their way inside when we caught up to them.  She was clearly completely embarrassed that he not only talked to her on the street, but also talked to her friends.  It was so funny!  Errands completed, Gema met up with us, and we went for a drink at one of the little bars.  Each one has an outdoor tent, full of tables, that will stay there all summer.  I had a diet Coke, Gema had coffee, and Jorge had a beer, and we were brought a plate of tapas - little "pizza roll" fried things, and ham and pimento on bread.  A few minutes later, they brought around fried calamari on bread, too.

What's on for tomorrow?  I'm not sure yet.  :)

Santillana Not-Really-Del-Mar

Today started out a little questionable, weatherwise.  It was grey and threatening rain when we left, headed toward Santander.  This week has been like this so far, and it's hard to plan what to wear for the whole day.  Again, I was unaware of Jorge's plans for the day, though he did say we would be seeing the beautiful, but oddly named, Santillana Del Mar.  Its name, Del Mar, would indicate that it was on the coast, but it is actually inland.  But more about that later.

When we were approaching Santillana, the signposts said "Santillana" and "Museo de Altamira" at every roundabout, and each time, that is the direction we took. I really didn't think too much about it until our final turn, where the signpost only said "Museo de Altamira".  Were we really going to Altamira??  It turned out that, yes, indeed, we were!  And as a bonus, Sunday was a free day (though it would only have been 3 euros, anyway)  Altamira is the location of one of the largest collections of prehistoric cave paintings in the world.  The actual cave is no longer open to the public because the sheer number of tourists visiting was threatening its existence.  In the early 2000s, they built an exact replica of the cave opening, where the paintings were found. There was a fascinating museum that we looked around while we waited for our turn to see the little introductory film.  It was very well done, with English explanations at each display, and much of it was familiar from my anthropology classes.  After the film, we headed down into the reproduction.  There was a tour group just ahead of us who was speaking English, so I listened to them pointing out various features of the drawings.  Even though it is a reproduction, it is really impressive.  We had just enough time to see it and finish the museum before they closed at 3:00.

Then it was time to find a spot for lunch.  It had turned sunny, but still a bit windy.  We found a little roadside park with picnic tables (but apparently no lawnmowers), and spread out a little picnic.  We had Asturian empanada, which is sort of like a thick-crusted pie with a filling consisting of finely chopped tuna, boiled egg, tomato, onion, and probably some olive oil.  It was absolutely delicious!  The dessert empanada was like apple pie with a layer of rice pudding under the apples.  OK, I had two pieces, but the first one was small.  Then we headed back to see Santillana Del Mar.

We saw a sign for some cliffs and decided to follow it to see where it lead.  Big mistake.  After winding around toward the coast, the road came to an end at a cliff, all right, but it was a guy's farm.  And I mean it actually came to an end.  Jorge had to inch the car back and forth to turn around.  It was so scary that I closed my eyes while he maneuvered it.  I was actually willing to get out and wait for him to get it turned but I thought that might be rude, so I just closed my eyes.  He saw me and laughed, but he did tell me that I wasn't the only one who was scared.  Back to Santillana.

Santillana is a town from the Middle Ages.  As Chad said, when he saw a picture, it looks like a movie set.  It is a very touristy place and has lots of shops, all housed in the original buildings.  The buildings are stone, or half-timbered.  Inside each, the floors and doorways are uneven and small.  The streets are cobbled, and even without knee problems, I still had to watch where I was walking in order not to trip.  We took a lot of pictures, and I found a couple of things to buy.  At one shop, they gave us a sample of a local cake that tasted like a pound cake.  I can see why this town gets mentioned a lot in guidebooks, but I really wouldn't want to be here in the peak of tourist season.  It must be wall-to-wall people.  There are several beautiful hotels and a parador, but you would have to haul your bags over several blocks of those heavy cobbles to get there because it's pedestrian only.

Then we were ready to head back toward Asturias.  On our way, we suddenly turned down a small road to a parking lot in the middle of a field.  I had no idea what we were going to see, and Jorge wasn't telling.  We walked a good distance back, toward the sea, and finally came to the surprise - a beach called Playa de Gulpiyuri.  It looks like a little pond surrounded by huge stones, but it is really connected to the sea by an underwater cave.  This also gives the water waves and tides, just as if it you were actually on the coast.  It was a steep walk down to the little beach, so I chose instead to take the also-steep walk up to the cliff edge.  At the top, the view was incredible.  The rock there is limestone, and it has worn away, over ages of pounding by the waves, to look like huge, jagged crystals sticking up out of the sand.  When Jorge and I came back down, we watched some dogs playing in the water, then hit the road again.

Just a short drive on was another natural wonder, the Bufons of Pria.  This a place where the waves have worn holes in the rock in such a way that, when the waves are high, the water can come shooting up out of these huge holes in the ground.  You can walk around the area and see the holes, some big, some small, and hear the wind groaning up through them, and the water rushing in and out from down below.  It was surprising, and a little creepy, to be walking along and suddenly hear it.  It almost seemed like a volcano that might erupt at any moment, right next to you.  But the sea was relatively quiet, so we didn't see it happen.

On the road again, we decided, while it was still light, to stop for a bottle of sidra.  The place we stopped turned out to be something like the local biker bar, with lots of Route 66 signs all around.  We sat outside in the fading light.  Paula has turned out to be a good, though reluctant, translator.  She clearly understands much of what is said in English but isn't excited about showing it off.  She also has the tiniest bit of 12-year-old annoyance when asked to do so.  She is also unhappy about having to go to school tomorrow instead of with us.  Next week she will be going with her class to Valladolid for three days, the first time she will have been away from home for so long.

Tonight I hope to Skype with everyone for Mother's Day, at 12:45 my time.  I hope it works - you never know if the technology will cooperate.  But it's a long, long way from having to go down to the post office to make an international call home in the middle of the day (in hopes of catching someone home before work in the States).  Kids on study abroad today have NO idea.....