July 23, 2010 Cudillero to Santillana del Mar to Tudes

Katie and Trevor feeling the "torture" of wandering the streets of yet another quaint village!

The Walls see Santillana del Mar

View of the Picos, right out our window.

The entrance to our delightful accommodations.

Nice view for Katie to wake up to!

The pool, built into the terrain.

Some of the village dogs.

A villager, bringing home the cows for the day.

This morning we woke up, packed, and hit the road. The driving part is not very exciting so I’m not even going to bother talking about it. Everytime we have driven to a new spot, it has been my turn to write, well that makes it easier for me! When we drive we drive for 3 or 4 hours usually, but usually whatever we estimate it’s going to be it turns out to be like an hour longer than that. Anyways we drove for about 2 hours and then we went to Altamira. They have caves with drawings from between 12 and 15 thousand years ago. We took a Spanish tour because English wasn’t an option. Spanish was kind of a bad idea seeing as really only my dad picked up anything. I was able to understand a little by our tour guides gestures and my little knowledge of the Spanish language. It was pretty cool, all the drawings and animals on the ceilings. Also some of the rocks had no drawing but the rocks had faces in them, you could see the eyes and the nose and mouth, or in Spanish that would be ojos, narriz y boca.

After we were done there we drove a little ways down the road to Santillana del Mar and explored that town. It was pretty cool because the road was blocked so no cars could go down that road. There are so many stray dogs and cats in Spain. I saw about 3 while wandering. We went in a little jewelry shop and my mom bought a pair of earrings, they were SO cute… I didn’t even see them. We saw a museum of torture, we didn’t go in  but we saw a cage hanging and a skeleton in it. They must have put a man in there and let him starve and let the animals get him. Gee I wonder what he did to deserve that. We wandered for about 2 hours and then hit the road again.

On the rest of our drive to Tudes, in the Picos de Europa mountains we drove through a gorge. It was so cool.  We could see up the sides of the mountains which was very pretty. Also very nerve wrecking for my mom though. There were so many little twists and turns and my dad was going really fast. We arrived in Tudes at around 5 or 5:30. We learned from Tony that the village of Tudes has only 25 permanent residents. It is such a small town. The apartment is super nice though and there is a swimming pool, foosball, air hockey, pool and a computer in the “Social Area”. It is so cool! We had dinner at the only place to eat dinner in Tudes, I think it was called “El Ingles”. I had chicken nuggets that were very good. After dinner we chilled and watched Casino Royale.

Katie

July 22, 2010 Cudillero, Espana (Spain)

The beach!

Dad, the frisbee king!

View of the beach from the scenic overlook.

Being like the locals and jumping off the embankment.

Today Ryan, Katie and I stuffed our faces for breakfast, then went to the market for some food (for lunch). The supermarket was a tiny building filled with old people who when they saw someone they knew,  had to meet up them and gossip. We walked to a bakery to buy bread because the grocery store only sold stale bread. We walked back to the hotel and grabbed our swimsuits, then walked to the car. My dad had gotten really lucky on his parking job, so he needed luck to get out of there (tight spot, sharp turn). We drove through town on the one car width street that was supposed to fit two cars going both ways (its scary to be on the sidewalk because the cars have to drive on the sidewalk to pass each other).

After getting lost (a theme on this trip), my Dad finally parked the car as far away from the beach as possible. The beach was rocky then sandy, then rocky then seaweedy, then water. We played football while we let our sunscreen soak in, and finally went in the water when we saw big waves (it was only me, Ry, and Dad that brought our suits). After we  got tired, we ate some ham and cheese sandwiches (yum!), then played Frisbee on the beach. We went in a few more times, then left (long walk)to go back to the car and then Cudillero.

We drove to the hotel and waited while Katie grabbed her suit, then went and parked down by the harbor. We walked to the harbor, and I was the first to jump off the harbor wall into the water, about 12 feet (the locals were already at it, we got the idea from them yesterday).  We did that  for about 30 minutes; then because El Cheapo (Dad) thought he found a good parking spot far from the hotel, we walked back. There was a tunnel for water to get through the mountains that also had a path next to the water, so Katie  and I walked through it (it was long  but it was worth it because it was a shortcut). Everyone got dressed, then we went out for… PIZZA (finally)! Cristina, the owner of the hotel gave my Dad a card for free drinks because of his birthday on Saturday, so we then went and got our free drinks at some restaurant, then  went back to the hotel. 

Goodnight, and have a fun wait till my next post!

TREVOR WALL 

Happy 50th birthday to Scott!!!!

All over northern Spain we have seen these stunning blankets of hydrnaga! This one is for my wonderful brother who is celebrating 50 years today!!!!!  Enjoy the fun Scott, sorry we can't be there with you!

July 21, 2010 Santiago de Compostela to Cudillero

The view into town.

The local kids would jump off the embankment and swim between boat landings.

The pour is cool to watch, the sidre on the other hand, not so good, "but when in Rome"....

Today was our last day in Santiago de Compostela. Dad woke up and found a “supermercado” and bought breakfast which was waiting for us when we got up. The menu included donuts, bread, cheese (queso de tetilla, which has a local legend associated with it, so it was a must try), yogurt, etc. It was an interesting one to say the least. We ate in our room, and didn’t have any silverware. We then got on our way to our next destination, Cudillero. Before we left, we had to wait for my dad to bring the car to the hotel through the twisty, turny streets, many of which were under construction, so we could load it up, which took like 45 minutes. Once we finally got going, we settled in for our 4 hour drive. The scenery outside was beautiful right by the ocean, something you would expect right out of a travel book.

When we got into Cudillero, which is in a different province called Asturias, we were met by a cool little town, right on the ocean. It’s nestled into the side of a mountain, looking out  to the Atlantic. It seems to be a small town, but, surprisingly, it is home to 1,700 people. The bottom of the town starts out on the water, and works its way up the mountain. When we were checked into our room, we wandered down by the water to see the fishermen bring in their catches of the day. They had caught many interesting fish, one boat had caught over 150 fish for the day! They basically set up an assembly line, the fish are lifted out of the boat, then into the waiting car’s trailers, which take them to restaurants and other people, who eat them.

We then walked onto their break wall, which encloses the bay. It was very awesome, giving a view of the ocean, and it was mind – blowing to think about where you were, and what you were seeing! Once we were done enjoying the views, we headed back into town for dinner. We went to a place from one of our guidebooks, El Padron. It was very good, the meal served  in courses, so I had a sausage and bean soup, then pork with french fries.

Once we finished our meal, we went to a “Sidreria”, a place where they served hard (alcoholic) cider, or “sidre.” They serve the drink a certain way, by putting the bottle above their head and pouring it into the glass at waist level. My parents thought they would like it, like Aunt Maggie said she did when she was a student here in Asturias. All of us had earlier seen an old man down a whole bottle by himself, and he would chug his glass every time it was re- filled, so we all assumed he was a tolerant drinker of the stuff. As it turns out, you’re supposed to down it fast so you get the good after taste, because the stuff tastes absolutely horrible. According to my dad, it was the worst alcoholic drink he has ever tasted.

Our day was very eventful, and we can’t wait to hit the beautiful beach tommorow!

-Ryan

July 20, Santiago de Compostela

The shell on this person's backpack signifies that they are a pilgrim.

Together with Rome and Jerusalem Santiago de Compostela is one of the principal pilgrim destinations in Christianity.  Why?  Well, it seems that after his beheading, the body of St. James the Apostle was transported from Palestine to the Galician coast and buried several miles inland in present day Santiago de Compostela.  Fast forward several hundred years, light from a star shines down upon a field, the bones are discovered by a shepherd, and Santiago Matamoros (St. James the Moor-Slayer) becomes the hero needed by Christian Spain in its fight against the Moors.  Soon there are hordes making the pilgrimage, for the bones of Santiago rank as the greatest relic in all of Europe.  The pilgrimage could be arduous and dangerous, but its successful completion could reduce a pilgrim's time in purgatory by half.  Pilgrimages to Santiago had nearly died out, but the latter part of the 20th century saw a great resurgence in hikers and now bikers making pilgrimages of 100 to more than 700 kilometers.

The magnificent cathedral and surrounding streets make for quite a lively scene.  This is even truer this year since it is a holy year (years where July 25 falls on a Sunday).  Pilgrims with backpacks and walking sticks abound as do street musicians and automobile pilgrims such as ourselves.  Despite the crowds in the town center we chanced upon Ryan's high school spanish teacher (Courtney Cleveland) who is earning her masters degree at La Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC as Ryan likes to call it).

Santiago de Compostela is the capital of Galicia.  There are 4 languages in Spain and Gallego is the native language of Galicia.  It is greatly evident on street signs and restaurant menus and to the untrained eye bears a strong resemblance to Portuguese.

Things are ramping up for the upcoming festival and as I write this at 11:30 pm there is ethereal music emanating from the direction of the cathedral and the cathedral is serving as a canvas for a light show, as seen out my hotel window.  Very cool.

Tom

July 19, Porto to Santiago de Compostela, Spain

T & K hanging in their favorite perch, saying good bye to Porto.

Hotel San Clemente, our lodging in Santiago

The boys posing outside of the cathedral

The spires of the cathedral as the sun goes down

Typical restaurant seafood display

Today we woke up and cleaned up everything and got all packed up and ready to drive to Santiago de Compostela. At around 9:30 Fernando came and got the keys and we left. We got lost on our way (not really....just took the back roads...!) and we arrived at about 4. There's really not much to write about during the drive, so this is going to be kind of a short post. When we arrived we checked into our hotel and wandered around exploring the town. We searched for some dinner and we found a cafeteria, a total American tourist place. I ordered a hot dog, everyone food got delivered to them and it was as if they forgot about mine because it took about 5 more minutes before my food came. The hot dog was a normal hot dog in a bread that was hollowed out. It was really good though. We also saw the cathedral and it looked really nice because the sun was setting so the church had a kind of orange glow on it. I like this town because it is easier to communicate because we can actually speak spanish. And since Trevor doesn't really know Spanish we can really mess with him. We tried to convince him that bathroom was "Poopoo" so he would ask the waiter "Donde esta el poopoo?" Also when we were wondering back to our hotel we walked past some restaurants with windows displaying their food. We saw fried octopus, fish with big eyes, barnacles. It was super nasty.

Porto, July 18th

A "top of the tour bus" view of Porto

How many beaches have you been to with a castle in the background?

Cool sculpture of a fishing net in the background.

Ryan trying to figure out how to "pay to pee"!

Our apartment is the top floor of the red building.

Hi this is Trevor talking ( I probably don’t need this introduction; my blogging quality is just that good that you can tell it’s me). We ate breakfast when we woke up, then finally left after lots of complaining from Ryan. We took the double decker bus (anyone riding it pretty much has a sign above there head saying “look! I’m a tourist!”) It was pretty much the same as any double decker  we have ever took, with lots of buildings, they’re just different buildings than the other tours. After taking the full loop, we went back to our apartment and ate some sandwiches that we bought from this sandwich store; that is really tasty (we got lunch there yesterday, today, and we are getting lunch there tomorrow). After lunch we took a different double decker and went to the beach. The beach was jam packed, almost 50,000 people there (my guess). Me and Ry swam (and played American football) while Katie sunbathed (surprised?) and my parents sat on the sand (fun). We took a  double decker back to the apartment, then went out for dinner. For the receipt the waiter tried to scam my dad by making one of the items pricier; but with my dad’s careful accountant eye, we caught the mistake.


Type to you later, 


TREVOR WALL