Asturias, Patria querida,
Asturias de mis amores;

Those are the first two lines of the anthem of Asturias, a province in northern Spain. Asturias, my country. Asturias of my loves. This is just a piece of the chant commonly heard late at night, when the citizens, a bit intoxicated, are in the streets. This past weekend I traveled to Austrias, and it was the grand place mentioned by the anthem.




Asturias is 6-7 hours from Madrid by bus, but we made a stop in León, in the province of Castille y León. Here we toured "the greatest gothic cathedral in all of Spain," as the tour guide mentioned multiple times.
The church stood in the main square, not unusual for such an old city, but what was different was the church was a little intimidating. I don't know if it was the combination of the gothic architecture along with the stormy sky, but something said this was not just another church of Europe. Inside the mood was different, with the many stained glass windows letting in tinted light, a sign of the divine according to our guide.
The church was wonderful, but we had many other things to do.


After León we proceeded to a small mountain town in Picos de Europa, a national park in a chain of mountains.
We checked in to the three hotels in the town, and proceeded to occupy the time between check-in and dinner by doing as the locals would do, going to the bar. Asturias is known for its sidra, an alcholic apple cider that must be poured from a great height into a communal cup that is passed around between friends. We found a small bar, complete with a boar's head mounted above the sidra pouring apparatus.
We quickly got to the task of trying the local speacialty. After a while the locals got tired of all the Americans or something, and they left. I am just going to say they needed a nap. I guess we got a bit roudy, and needless to say, we didn't get any wine with our dinner. The next morning we went on a hike through the mountains to a small, traditional village with pretty flowers.
The mountains were amazing.

We took a perilous taxi ride back to where we started and we off to Llanes.



Llanes is a touristy seaside town on the northern coast of Spain.
It looks like California, with ocean on one side, and mountains on the other. We took a tour of town, including a walk along the paseo, a grassy promenade on a cliff overlooking the ocean and town.
Later that night we attended a potato festival, which involved a live band playing in a plaza, sidra, and a potato dance. The next morning we boarded the bus and headed home.


It was a great weekend trip, and in sharp contrast with the classes which I have started. If you think classes are boring in English, try taking a bad one in Spanish.