guadamía days

We were having such a good time that we knew we wouldn't want to leave at the end of our planned two-week stay. But our holiday home was already booked up,... so we asked around in the village and found out about this little old house, which we booked for an extra week :)

So, we happily continued to enjoy our lazy summer days. Doing stuff like this...

...and this

... and, of course, lots of this ;)

we made friends and hunted for crabs and fish and treasures with them...

we built forts.... not caring that the tide would come in and they would be gone in a matter of hours.

can you see our fortress all the way down there?!

it was so nice to stroll down and see this view every morning.

... when the sun got too high in the sky and our tummies rumbled, telling us it was time to eat a proper meal, we would head back up the hill to our holiday home and replenish.

LiamCam #4

Bulnes

Although it was summer and it was tempting to just chill out at the beach every day, even when it was cloudy, we were very excited to see some of the wonderful mountainous areas around the part of Asturias we were visiting.

Here are some pics from a day we spent at Bulnes, a little town in the mountains, 650 metres above sea level.

We drove through the hills...

... to the funicular railway.

The kids were excited to travel on this climbing train, through a tunnel in the mountain!

At the other end of the line, our adventures began! Liam had his camera handy to take some of his own shots along the way :)

onward and upward...

...stopping for some thoughtful rest.... or restful thought... who knows?

Ahhh, the fresh air all the way up there is so pure and invigorating.

After stopping for some refreshments in the tiny town of Bulnes, we hiked on up to an even tinier "village" (if you can call five or six houses a village?!) higher on up the mountains.

It was quite a long trek so we expected some complaints from tired little boys, but there was no complaining at all! No whining, no "will you carry me", no "are we there yet". This is a "real expedition, Mummy". They were so into it :)

Sights like this one makes you think how hard it must be to bring supplies up to these villages in the hills. There are no other roads, no cars, just sturdy country folk and their mules!

We reached the top!

And still had plenty of energy left to play :)

... and eat, and explore.

... and with a hop, skip and a jump, we explored some more...

And then we found it. This spot, where the view of the valley is just breathtaking. The photos don't do it any justice. You can't see or hear the watherfalls way down there in the valley. But we did. And we sat there taking it all in.

*in case you're wondering, no it's not Lorcan taking these group photos (he's on Jaime's lap). the camera was on self-timer mode ;)

It reminds me of Heidi or something!

... so this must be Heidi's grandfather :D

He told us all about life up there in the mountains. Cold snowy winters, bright beautiful summers...

And then we headed back down to Bulnes village. What a beautiful day.

jurassic adventures

Do you like dinosaurs? We do! Are you intrigued by those huge, scary beasts that wandered the earth millions of years ago? We are! So, as soon as we heard that there was a Jurassic Museum nearby in Asturias, off we went for a visit...

The museum is located in Colunga, in the hills above the "Playa de la Griega" beach.

Dinosaurs actually roamed these parts in the Jurassic period. We saw their footprints along the coast!

First stop was the dinosaur playground in the museum grounds. We had some mid-morning snacks there before starting our visit.

Then we had a look at the outdoor models...

...which are pretty realistic... and scary-looking!

There are some really cool, informative exhibits at the MUJA. This one shows how quickly the Atlantic ocean is expanding... by the second!

This one taught us about lots of extinct species.

Liam did a kid's workshop with a special guided tour for kids. They learnt about paleanologists and dinosaurologists and even created their own dinosaur teeth!

"el hombre de Atapuerca"

'dem bones, 'dem bones...

MUJA. If you're ever in the area, it's well worth a visit.