Gijon to Leon
Trip Start
May 14, 2008
1
5
14
Trip End
May 30, 2008
León,
Castile-León,
Spain
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
On our last day in Gijon, we got up early (for us) and semi-enjoyed the complimentary continental breakfast included with our hotel stay. The reason I say "semi" is because of the two rough-looking girls who were sitting adjacent to us enjoying their breakfast of cigarettes and Heineken beer! We ate quickly, then walked along the promenade of Playa de San Lorenzo to Santa Catalina Park, an area once used as a fort to protect the city. It´s now a huge green space, with immaculate lawns and a huge concrete structure by Basque artist Eduardo Chillida called "Eulogy of the Horizon". When standing under it, you can hear the ocean - similar to holding a conch shell up to your ear. As we walked through the old town, Jim had to find a bathroom - and fast. We saw a bar that had an open door, so Jim went inside while I waited for him
"Eulogy of the Horizon", Gijon
. And waited, and waited, and waited. Just as I started to worry about him, he quickly walked towards me and said "Quick, let´s get out of here!" I won´t go into the details, but the story involved a hotel matron who didn´t want him using her facilities, so he tried to explain that it was an emergency. She waved her hands and tried shooing him out, so he walked past her and went into the men´s room, apologizing as he went. To show her displeasure, she followed him in and turned the lights out on him! There´s more to the story, but I´ll save it for another day....From there we went to see the Roman Baths. Poor Jim actually thought that we were going to have a Roman bath - this morning he asked me why I was going to have a shower, since we were going to the Roman baths.....and I thought I was the blonde one! They were discovered in the early 1900´s and have been painstakingly restored since then. There was lots of information and a video, but it was all in Spanish so it only took us half an hour to go through it all. We walked back to our hotel by way of the beach and Parque Isabel la Catolica, a beautiful park with an aviary and a huge playground for kids.
Once we checked out of the Hotel Arena, which I must say is the best hotel yet, we drove about 200 km to Leon
Promenade, Playa de San Lorenzo beach, Gijon
. We took the Autopista, which allowed us to drive 120 kph. There were lots of tunnels, the longest being 4.1 km - sorry Connor, but I couldn´t hold my breath in that one! The drive took us through the Picos de Europa, an amazing group of mountains. We had a bit of a fiasco at the 2nd of two tollbooths - Jim pulled into a lane that was closed, and a huge semi pulled in behind us. There was a barricade in front of us so we couldn´t go forward, and the semi was behind us so we couldn´t back up, so we were pretty much stuck. Then the trucker started blasting his horn, and Jim was getting pretty anxious! Finally, somebody who worked there came along and told the trucker to back up so we could escape. Another adventure in Espana!We got to Leon and asked for directions at a pub to our hotel. With a bit of luck, we found it without too much trouble. After settling in, we returned our rental car as tomorrow we join Spanish Steps and start walking the Camino. We sauntered back to our hotel by way of the old town (every city has one!) and saw the Basilica de San Isidoro and the Catedral de Leon. They were pretty impressive, with huge stained glass windows and an incredible Church organ. We meandered through the narrow, cobblestone streets, where nearly everything was closed until 8:00, and got a bit lost finding our way back to our hotel. Jim spent about 5 minutes on a street corner poring over his map, and I finally just stopped an elderly man who was passing by and he pointed us in the right direction
Some of the Picos de Europas mountains
.Brad, Julia and John arrived at our door minutes later. Brad was on business in Europe and arrived in Leon two days ago. John & Julia arrived late last night, after missing their connecting flight in Madrid and having to wait an extra 7 hours for the next flight! I forgot to mention earlier, that Nancy, Sandi & Lynne got a ticket when driving from San Sebastian to Gijon, for not turning on their lights when they went through a tunnel! They had to pay 42 euros on the spot to get out of that one.
We all left the hotel and walked along the river to the Parador, an old palace which has been converted to a hotel and where N, S, and L are staying. We went to the bar for a drink, and I finally had the BEST Sangria I´ve ever had in Spain! The real McCoy! We had a fabulous dinner at a restaurant in the old town called Zuloaga, where the waiter gave us complimentary grappa and tapas - chorizo sausage in a tempura-like batter and drizzled with something like balsalmic vinegar - too spicy for me, but at least I tried it! It was a fun night, but a late night - we didn´t get back to our hotel until 12:30 a.m.
More later.....
