Spring is finally in full swing!

The past couple of weekends I have spent the time just enjoying the sunshine and relaxing at home. The sun has been strong, along with the wind. Sadly, I haven't taken many pictures and so I uploaded this one from last year! I have been running everyday now for three weeks which makes me really proud and just feeling good again. I am hoping to only continue this and I am so excited to start hot yoga again when I return to Seattle for the summer. I am starting to get a real bitter sweet feeling about leaving Spain/returning to the States. The next few months are going to be busy and quite the adventure. But before I get too far ahead of myself...  this coming weekend I am going to Sevilla for feria and I am so excited for all the amazing memories and pictures that are to come from this celebration!! I will also be adventuring out of Sevilla but I am not sure where to quite yet. Until then, I hope all is well with everyone else!

Asturias

Asturias is a northern coastal region just east of Galicia. We stayed in the cutest little town with wonderfully welcoming people. This is a picture of our little bungalow and my travel mates. The bungalow was so cute inside with a little kitchen so we could continue our family style dinners. Since it is so green up here the meat is of such better quality than where I live in the south.

 We stayed in a little beach town called Cadavedo. La Regalina is the name of the camping place where we rented the cabin. 

 When we got into town it was lunch time so we asked for some recommendations. There was a small bar called El Casino around the corner. We decided to try out the menu of the day which came with a drink and three courses followed by dessert for ten euros. Oh myyyyyy!!!!! This food was soooo good. We started with a seafood soup, next was a stew of meat and potatoes, following that I had lamb, and lastly some turron cake. Turron is a spanish treat similar to a brittle made with almonds but you can find this flavor for many desserts. This was such a great find. The people were so kind and the food I will never forget. The atmosphere in the bars up north are much different from the south. In Andalucia it is very loud and everyone is drinking no matter what time of the day. When they talk it almost seems like they are angry and yelling. Everyone was much more friendly and calm in the north.

 It was a little cloudy our first day but we still got plenty of exploring in for the day.

 We walked around the little town and spotted lots of livestock and these little houses for their firewood to keep dry.

 Later we hiked to a little lighthouse which was not anything special but the views were still quite nice!

 After that we found a beautiful little port town called Luarca. I loved all the colorful little boats. We enjoyed a coffee and walked around a bit.

 The following day we spent in Oviedo. Oviedo is the capital of Asturias. Sadly, I only took this one picture below because I seemed to be suffering from a kidney stone and was in an unbelievable amount of pain. Luckily I was only feeling ill for just under two days and finished up the trip healthy.

Santiago de Compostela- Galicia

During holy week I took a six day road trip!! This is the first piece of our adventure. We left at about midnight to start our long journey up north. Five of us piled into our rental car and made the nine hour journey to Santiago, which is located in the autonomous region of Galicia. After our long journey we arrived to our little bungalow that we would be staying for two evenings. It was so comfortable and even had a little kitchen so we could prepare our own dinners. After a short nap we ventured into the city.

 First we stopped at the cultural center which was a very large interesting structure which seems to still be under construction. We didn't get to go inside but wandered around. The library is also attached, which is where I took this picture of a structure created from used books.

 Finally we drove into the actually city center. Santiago de Compostela was one of the places I was most excited for this trip. The cathedral here is well known. People pilgrimage to this cathedral. The entire walk or camino takes roughly two months and starts in France. We saw a few people on this journey throughout our trip. They come to the cathedral to see, I believe, St. James. 

 We spent quite a bit of time walking around the cathedral and touring inside as well. Many cathedrals that I have visited has cost money but this one was entirely free. 

 Here you can see a distance shot through the buildings as we explored more of the city. Santiago is fairly small in comparison to other large cities and was easily toured in just one day.

 The second day we ventured to A Coruña which is a beach city. We didn't walk around too much but just took in the views of the pretty blue beaches. The lighthouse there is said to be the oldest running lighthouse and has been in use for over 2,000 years. I am not sure that this exact structure is actually that old but there are some protected rocks that have some Roman engravings regarding this area and the lighthouse.

 This region is also famous for pulpo, which means octopus. I love some grilled octopus with olive oil and paprika!!

 We continued to explore a few other beach towns before returning to our cabin. We ate out for lunches and then cooked family style for dinner. It worked out real well since we were all working on a real tight budget for the trip. We even found a little store by our camping area where a woman makes her own wine. It was really light and fruity and we enjoyed several bottles throughout our stay.

After two nights we continued our drive East along the coast to the region of Asturias... on my next blogpost I will continue the adventure.