Today dawned a bit overcast and cool. But no rain as far as we can see. Gijon is a small little coastal town with lots of beaches (wrong season) and a compact little historical center. Everything we’d read said that you could cover all the important sites in an hour or two. Those reports were pretty accurate as it turned out.
We stood in line with the masses to get off the ship. Once again, Captain took forever, and then the gangway took a time to get handled. We were finally released, but not without some pushy big guy who almost took out on of the entertainment staff. The poor guy actually had to turn around and tell the pushy man to wait his turn and stop pushing. Brutal! These people…and then the passenger had the audacity to lie! He said “I have a private tour waiting, I have to go”. We knew for a fact he didn’t, because he was standing with us before he shoved his way out the door and he and his whole group had bus tour tickets! Geez!
We took the free shuttle to downtown – which was nice (took almost 1/2 hour). Let us out right in the middle of the historic district, where we began our explorations. We walked up to the highest point of the Cimadeville (old town) – the top of the Santa Catalina hill - to the Elogio del Horizonte (the “Eulogy of the Horizon”). It’s a massive sculpture designed to pay homage to the views from the cliffs.
From the hilltop, we wandered down around the beach promenade of Playa de San Lorenzo. It’s a soft sandy beach, but you can see that when the tide comes in, the beach will disappear and the water comes fairly high up the sea wall. We passed by museums and cathedrals, but decided we just wanted to wander and enjoy the Spanish atmosphere.
We began looking for a place to eat, there were plenty of little restaurants and cafes in the historic district, but none that opened before 1:30. We ended up heading back to the “new” section of town and landing at the Gran Cafe, where there was free wi-fi and awesome snacks. We sat there for a good while, me sipping Albarino wine, Ed sipping his beer, snacking on jamon and queso on baguettes and potato chips that came with our drinks. Then we ordered 2 bocadillos (little sandwiches) – chicken with onion confit and jamon con huevos – both excellent and a perfect light lunch (if it weren’t for the bread!).
Handled all our emails, but the time difference makes it tough to make phone calls on skype! We at least check voicemail, but it’s 6 in the morning EST, so no calling is going on here.
After our snacks and internet, we found a grocery store, stocked up on supplies and headed back to the ship. Along the way collecting some great regional information from the tourist bureau that had set up on the pier. Fantastic maps and information about the region – as well as a little cookbook with regional specialties that Elaine picked up and gave us a copy. We’re all set if we ever decide to come back to the Asturias Region of Spain.
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