o, o, oviedo

After a relaxing weekend in the Asturian countryside, it was city time... with a trip to Oviedo!

We did plenty of sightseeing around the old town...

And stopped for refreshments at a cute little terraza...

We love mosto!... especially when it comes in cool slanty glasses :)

We tried some square "croquetas" mmmm

And got our hands on some balloons...

Then we headed to the park for playtime...

Liam and Malachy quickly met and made friends with this sweet little girl, Pepa. And we chatted to her parents Pepa (senior) and Carlos. Hi guys!

Then we found the tiniest grasshopper you've ever seen!

We were expecting him to hop away any moment, but he tamely waited for us to click some pics first.

I wonder who lives on this street?

Last stop: ice-creammmm!

And, coming soon: the jurassic museum...

ribadesella and cuevas

We were staying just 7km from Ribadesella, a lovely, quite large town, with a port and a beach, some nice restaurants, a playground and some cute shops....

We hung out at the playground and had a picnic...




It was a Sunday, so the town was full of people just sightseeing, having tapas and hanging out...

Afterwards, we crossed the river in search of a little town we had heard about called "Cuevas"...

To get to "Cuevas" (which means 'caves'), you have to drive/walk through "La Cuevona de Cuevas" (the big cave)! It's long and the huge stalectites and stalecmites are lit up for visitors to stop and view. It's cold in there and the small river that created the cave still flows through and out into the River Sella.

On the other side of the cave, we spent some time wandering around the village of Cuevas de Agua.

There are some cute little farmhouses...

... and we met a brand new calf!

After talking to some of the locals for a while, we headed down past the railway tracks and across the grain fields to the River Sella...

Maybe these guys were getting ready for the International Descent of the River Sella in August.


This hanging bridge was erected over the river for the salmon and trout anglers to fish from.

Hasta Pronto!

Next stop: Oviedo...

gulpiyuri and río caliente

Hidden along the coast of Asturias, between Llanes and Ribadesella, is the inland beach called "Gulpiyuri"... we found out about it from the locals and got directions on how to find it...

So we headed over one morning, nice and early.... the beach only fills at high tide and we didn't want to miss it.


There it is... it's at least 100 metres from the actual coastline... but it's a beach! There's a cave and the waves crash through at high tide, forming the cutest, and most secluded beach you can imagine...

When we got there, there was just one other bather... a local man who told us all about Gulpiyuri.

Then we got down to business. We stayed there all morning.

Later we headed back further inland and drove towards Río Caliente...

* * * * *

Río Caliente is a little town (close to Río Frío!) at the end of the "Caminu Encantau" (the enchanted walk)...

A typical "horrea" used for storing grain and other foods, safe from the cold and snow.

We visited a local farm...

chatted to the farmers

and played by the river...

we stopped for refreshments..

and then we headed on our walk through the "Caminu Entantau"...

where we met these!!! look at those horns!!!... I have to admit we got a tiny bit freaked out when the wouldn't get off the path and out of our way... they just stood there, motionless and staring... and those horns did not look very friendly!... after a while we decided to slowly but surely walk towards them and down the path (there was no other way out!)... and, of course, they eventually got out of our way :)

Spot the difference! No, can't see it? Look at Liam's left shoe!! Urgh! Mudbath!

The "Bosgosu" has a statue in the middle of the forest...

After our trek through the "caminu encantau", we drove back through the hills to the coast...

Bye for now...