Traveling, Part II

If you want to read about the beginning of this journey, go to the next post.

In Cangas de Onis it was still raining when we got up the next morning. There was also snow all over the mountains in the Picos de Europa national park, making any thought of going there in this season out of the question. However, there is a panoramic view of the mountains from Jim and Renate’s living room. We enjoyed the view, were treated to wonderful food, and made several short shopping trips around the town. You can read and see what Honey Bunny and Brown Bear got by going to their blog.

On Sunday morning there is an extensive outdoor and covered market in Cangas. The cheese market, in particular, is outstanding. Asturias is known all over Spain and beyond for their wonderful cheese. We often see Cabrales blue cheese in Whole Foods Market in the states. We bought raw milk (cow, goat, and sheep?) aged Gamoneu cheese from Begonia, the cheesemaker, and great smoked cheese (Queso Ahumado de Pria, Llanes, Asturias, of cow and sheep milk) that has all the flavor of sitting around the camp fire.

On another excursion we walked along the Sella river, which joins with another river in Cangas. The Sella is one of the prime salmon fishing rivers in Spain. The salmon come up the river from the Atlantic to spawn, just as they do on the west coast of the US. Fancy restaurants in Madrid pay a huge fee for the privilege of catching the first salmon of the season in Cangas. They then recoup all their expenses and more by offering the first salmon of the season to their customers back in the capital city.

On Monday morning we caught an early bus back to Oviedo. As we were coming into town we saw one of the 9th century churches we wanted to visit, so we got off the bus and walked a few blocks to San Julián de los Prados. This church, which dates from around 830, is decorated with murals on its inside walls. The paintings were covered for many centuries by the whitewash that was applied during plague times and were only discovered in 1913 during restoration work. Enough of the original paintings remain to allow the missing pieces to be sketched out in line drawings on the plaster. This little church is truly magnificent and a perfect example of preRomanesque Asturian church design. We had the church to ourselves, except for the guard/guide who was on duty. We were fortunate that the church is open on Mondays with no guided tours. When we remarked to the guide about the tranquility of the place, she said we were lucky that we were there before the bus loads of tourists arrived.

Leaving the church, we walked into the town center, stopping at a convenient bar for a bit of breakfast tortilla (eggs, potatoes, and a bit of ham fried in olive oil) and a coffee con leche before searching out the tea store that Renate had recommended. One thing we miss in Spain is special teas: Lapsang Souchong, Pu Erh, etc. These are all available in the little tea store in the old section of Oviedo. Then it was a leisurely stroll past the recently installed statue of Woody Allen (Oviedo plays a prominent role in his most recent film, which was shot in Spain and features Penelope Cruz, Spain’s favorite daughter!). We stopped at another bar where we fortified ourselves with more tortilla and I had a cerveza (beer). Then we walked to the train station to wait for our train back to Sahagún.

Our return train was one of the fast trains (Alvia). Up we went over the mountains while we read articles in the International Herald Tribune, which we found at a kiosk on the way to the station. The Alvia made only three or four stops all the way back to Sahagún and we arrived in 2 ½ hours, with time to take care of some shopping and buy our tickets to Madrid this Friday to catch a plane back to the US on Saturday. On our way we met Pedro Luna Tovar, who was leading his daughter, María, on her first outdoor walk after giving birth to her first baby the week before. María invited us to her home, where we enjoyed a cup of tea while we admired Eva and told María, Pedro, and Carlos (María’s husband) about our adventure.

I hope this little narrative gives you some picture of what life is like here in Spain. We are really sad to leave Sahagún, if only for a short month and a half in the US. We look forward to coming back in April in time for Holy Week here in Sahagún and several fiestas that will come later in the month.