Beaches, lakes, sun and dinosaurs

Ruby is so happy to be with us.

So on Monday once again we were trusted with a hire car. Ruby's amiga was here to visit for the week and Olivia was still here so this made for an exciting plan for a roadtrip. The weather in Asturias likes to let us down but we were not defeated and even in the fog and slight rain we drove to Ribadesella to look at the beach, take stereotypical photos of us jumping on said beach before hopping back in the car to avoid the rain. 

Our plan was to then drive to the lakes where we had been the previous week to watch the sun set. Two issues here; the sun wasn't visable, neither was the road we were going to drive on. Instead we stopped in Covadonga which has a beautiful church on the side of one of the mountains. All was not lost and photos were still taken. 

Ribadesella

The rest of the evening was mainly dedicated to cooking and eating. 

On Tuesday we got up early to take Olivia to the airport to catch her flight back to the sunny South of Spain. Emotions were high as we said farewells at the airport, the main emotion being tiredness, but yeah it was a little bit sad. Then I decided as I was up that I would have a productive day and go for a run before having a shower and going to uni, yeah I went back to bed. I went to uni for 2 hours and then wrote some more of my essay. Ruby then had to go to work, so myself and Frankie went swimming then rewarded ourselves for our hard work with wine in a cute little bar near the pool. 

My best mermaid impression Cangas de Onis.

Wednesday was another roadtrip day and Asturias treated us with a day of sunshine! We stopped off at Cangas de Onís and ate lunch by the river before heading to the Picos near Covadonga where we drove all the way to the top, it was so clear so the views were amazing and the lakes looked almost good enough to swim in. The 'almost' being the sign that said no swimming. The evening saw the return of Wednesday night tapas at Caja and it didn't disappoint as usual!

Thursday I went to a lecture on the Italian political system, I can only assume the lecturer was slightly merry as he slurred his way through the presentation making jokes and chuckling to himself. We then decided to go to the dinosaur museum which is about 50 minutes from our flat. This tale has a sad end, we got there and it was closed. We did however wander through all the giant dinosaurs outside and play a fun game of 'make Ruby impersonate the dinosaur' so all was not lost. We took a detour via 100 montaditos for some food before arriving back at the flat in time to start predrinks for my last night out in Oviedo before easter. The night was a fun filled blur of vodka and jagermeister, the best way for a night to be. 

The best 'Ruby does Dinosaur' of the day.

Today I flew very hungover back to England, took 2 annoyingly loud and full trains and ended up back in good ol' Yorkshire. Here starts Easter! 

NB: I took too many photos to possibly blog them all, see Facebook for more details. Terms and Conditions apply.

So it was my cumpleaños..

I haven't blogged in time because all the things ever happened and I've been busy turning 21. But here you are, the long awaited (I'm just guessing you've been anticipating it) blog of my birthday shenanigans. 

So side note, in the centre of Oviedo there is a big, let's for want of a better word call it a flower bed, in which the date is written in sliced up turf and stones, and it changes every day, nobody knows at what time or by who, well one would presume someone does but let's keep the air of mystery about it. So, the plan for my birthday eve was to go and sit and await the grand changing of the date. However this plan failed for two reasons, it was raining and I drunk a lot of 1 euro wine and fell asleep. 

Then it was officially my birthday I opened all my lovely cards and presents and ate a fried egg, bacon and baguette combo. I then spent the day watching a lot of films and exclaiming every now and then that it was my birthday before going out to a phenomenal Italian for tea and eating all the food in the world, followed by cake. Following the previous nights fail, we decided to walk to the centre so I could take my photo with my birthday date. It was pouring with rain and I got very wet but I think it was worth it. 

Me and my birthday.

Warning the next few paragraphs feature Olivia Mitchell. If you were hoping that you'd got rid of her when I left Paris I'm sorry to inform you all she's back.

So we spent Friday buying decorations and a garden gnome and decorating the flat before I went to collect the aforementioned Olivia Mitchell from the bus station. Many squeals of excitement later we were back at the flat in time to prepare for the grand soirée of my party. Whilst we were getting ready we heard a band playing and a kerfuffle on the street, so we went onto the balcony to investigate. It wasn't what I had first thought that Oviedo had put on a parade for my birthday, it was in fact the slightly more celebrated festival of Semana Santa, or Holy week/Easter.

Many people came, much alcohol was drunk, many games were played, much vodka jelly was smeared everywhere, more alcohol was drunk and then apparently we went out, so I'm told. I had a brilliant night with wonderful people and I'm sure I'll remember it for a long time to come, well apart from the parts that I have no recollection of, sadly they're gone forever. 

The next day was spent 99.9% in bed hungover eating and 0.01% moving (but only really to get more food).

View of Oviedo from el Cristo

On Sunday we went for Brunch (at 2pm) at 26 grados, which does the most wonderful of brunches consisting of a bagel as big as your head, 2 pastries of choice, fresh orange, coffee and then because it's Spain a random glass of Peach Bellini, just because why not? We then climbed up to the Cristo, which is the statue of Jesus on top of the mountain that overlooks Oviedo. When I say 'climbed' I really do mean it, one part is literally vertical. The views at the top are pretty amazing and it's well worth the sweaty climb up and it was such a sunny day!

And that was my birthday weekend. Mucho alcohol, mucho friends and mucho fun*.

*all 100% grammatically correct Spanish.

El Cristo himself

That time we were let loose with a car...

So this Monday and Tuesday the people of Europcar entrusted us with a hire car, and what fun we had! 

This is Ruby's happy face.

On Monday evening we drove (I say we, Ruby drove, we provided the musical accompaniment) to Cangas de Onís, which is famous for it's big Roman bridge. On arriving all of us managed to miss the bridge and drive completely past, on the third time past we spotted it and managed to park. It was pretty impressive, which I presume was what the man who came and spoke to us entirely in Asturian was saying. If this year abroad has improved anything to perfection it's my 'nod and smile'. 

The aforementioned bridge

After a quick helado break we continued towards Covadonga where we ended up however, was the top of a mountain and it was amazing. The views of the Picos de Europa and all the little surrounding villages were just fenomenal. Then it snowed, so we swiftly decided to head down the mountain and drive to Ribadesella for dinner. All of the above accompnied by the finest selection of hits from the 80's and 90's sung at full belt.

We came across this...

On Tuesday evening, we decided to drive up Naranco to El Cristo at the top of the mountain to see the views of Oviedo at night, those who read my Paris blog (Shout out Padres) will know how much of a fan of lit up cities at night I am. Little did we realise just how windy it was up there and it's a pretty good job I ate enough pasta to feed a third world country before going or I may not be here to tell the tale, as fascinating as it is. 

And there we have it, the car returned in one piece and plans for further road trips next week. 

Views of Oviedo from el Cristo

Very windswept selfie with the big JC

Views of Picos de Europa

Our trusty little car

Jamontecas, sexy patos and beaches.

Another week, another blog. The weather was grim to say the least last week and I didn't really leave the flat other than to go for a run until Thursday, where as usual I went to conversation tandem group. Now sad news this week, the people who own the bar and also run conversation group are having to close the bar, which means this week may have potentially been my last group unless they find somewhere else. 

Friday evening we decided to go out for dinner. It being Spain this meant leaving the flat at 10pm. We ate at Tierra Astur which is one of the most famous and most popular restaurants in Oviedo, mainly known for the sidra and tapas, which were both tasty. We then headed out to a few bars, had an argument with probably the oldest man in Oviedo and then drunk some more. Good night had by all.

Santillana del Mar

Now on Saturday I had signed up for a trip to Cantabria, Asturias' neighbouring region with AEGEE, essentially the international students association. This involved me waking up at 7, following the previous nights antics which was painful to say the least however, I made it to the bus in one piece. We visited Playa de Gulpiyuri first, which is a beach to you non hispanohablante folk, then onto Santillana del Mar, which I would describe as a Spanish version of York, which was very pretty and extremely Spanish. We then hopped back on the coach to visit the Altamira caves, or cuevas if you like, which is famous for it's cave paintings, we were given a tour of the cave and all the paintings in it, most of which were bison, following this I started seeing bison in the shapes of clouds and car windows. 

Playa de las conchas

We eventually arrived in Santander which I have promptly decided is my new favourite city in Spain. We arrived at the hostel and dumped our bags before going on a rather dark city tour. There was some form of truckers convention on that weekend and they were driving down the main street serenading the people of Santander with their tuneful horns (read- pissing everyone off). Then tapas. Now, I don't claim to be a tapas conossieur (or the spanish equivalent) but let's say I've had better tapas, and we're still waiting for our jamon iberico to arrive, 3 days later, which for a place which cannily named itself 'jamonteca' was a little ironic. What use is a Jamon-less, Jamonteca I ask? All washed down with a fair amount of alcohol and a man dressed up as a duck, all you could want from a night really. 

Awkward face.

On the Sunday following breakfast we took the coach to La playa de las conchas, or shell beach, which was so very pretty. I should point out at this point that when I went home 5 weeks ago, I left my camera and I am very much missing it, but did manage a few edgy photos with my phone so all was not lost! We walked from here to La Magdalena, which has amazing views of the coastline, lighthouse and a big palace. 

We visited another small coastal town on the way before getting to 'bufones del pría' which is on top of a cliff and is where caves have formed underneath and when water rushes into them, it forces the air out of the holes on top of the cliff and creates a dragon-esque rumble and occasionally sprays water, fun. Then arrived back, shattered in Oviedo.

Last group photo.

Good weekend, great company, beautiful photos.

Playa de las conchas

Bufones del Pría

Bufones del Pría