I had booked a flight way back when I arrived in Spain for this weekend knowing that it was a long weekend. As the typical broke traveler, I simply picked the cheapest flight I could find to anywhere in Europe. Turns out that place was Asturias. After purchasing the flight, I did a little more research and discovered how beautiful it was and immediately thought it would be a great place to do a hiking vacation with my mom. Well guess what...it all worked out and my mother and I had a great time up north! OviedoWhen we were planning the trip, we thought we might do part of the famous Camino de Santiago since it is a mostly flat trail and my mom has a fear of heights. There's a route that leaves from Oviedo, but we soon discovered that we would hardly see anything in 3 days. Best save the Camino for our next hiking trip together! The route we were going to do starts in Oviedo, so we kept the city on the itinerary to see where it all starts. We walked around a park, ate lunch in front of the cathedral, and wandered about town before getting back in the car. (Side note: Props to my mom for driving us everywhere.) Soto de AguesNext stop was Soto de Agues. The town was TINY. When we found the inn where we were staying, we asked the lady if there was a grocery store in town so we could make sandwiches for our hike the next day. Turns out...no. We'd have to drive to the next down over, Rioseco, and she said it was probably closed. It was only 7pm...and I thought Casariche was bad! Luckily we had packed plenty of train mix and other snackies for the trip, so it wasn't a big loss. The owner told us about restaurants in town and said that the inn was also a restaurant if we wanted her to make us anything. We went to park the car and explored the cute town while also checking out the restaurants. We ultimately decided to eat at her place, ordering chorizo, cheese, bread, and of course, wine and Asturias' famous sidra, aka hard cider. The owner brought out a big bottle of sidra and poured me what I thought was a bit to try. When I sipped it, she immediate frowned and told me noooo, todo! So I threw it back, making my mother slightly concerned and starting a interesting conversation about taking shots. As we sat there, what appeared to be the whole town stopped by the restaurant and ordered sidra. My mom and I watched in awe as the man poured the sidra from a distance the length of his wingspan. Picture this but while he was sitting down. Impressive. The both of us took turns pouring the sidra every time I wanted a drink. But as my mom consumed more wine and I consumed more sidra, our aim worsened and the table ended up a mess. Luckily there were napkins. We headed upstairs to bed happy, not hungry, and ready for the hiking adventures to begin. The next day, we ate breakfast at the inn, packed out things in the car, and headed on our way. Luckily the owner of the inn had a bottle of water because that was the only thing we were really missing from the grocery store. (Highly recommend this inn, Hotel Rural Casa Lao...it was really nice and the owner was so sweet! Not a sponsored blogger, just highly impressed.) The route we were doing is called La Ruta del Alba, and it left right from town, so we didn't have to drive anywhere. It was gorgeous! I could go on, but I think the pics speak for themselves. P.S. No judging our selfie taking skills - I'm a failed millennial. It's fine. On second thought...I do it on purpose. So people think I'm more attractive in person. Las Arenas de CabralesWe left Soto de Agues and made our way to Las Arenas de Cabrales. My mom wasn't super happy with the drive as we left Parque Natural de Redes and headed into Los Picos de Europa, the Peaks of Europe. Like I said, she's not a fan of heights. But we made it safe and sound to Las Arenas after a pit stop for lunch. We had some trouble finding the inn, but once we were all checked in, we headed to the grocery store to make sandwiches for the next day's hiking. Then we sought a restaurant because I was getting hangry. We finally settled on a sidreria, and it was delicious! All this trip, it felt like we were playing a game of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. While I enjoyed all of the places we had visited, Oviedo was too big, Soto de Agues was too small, and finally, Las Arenas was just right. We headed to bed to rest up for more hiking! The next morning we ate breakfast at the inn, double checked the route at the tourist office, packed up the car, and headed on our way. We were originally planning on doing the famous Ruta del Cares, but after talking to some people and seeing more pictures, we decided it would be best to skip this for obvious reasons. We instead set off to do part of La Ruta de Caoru, which the tourism office lady told us would be more tame for people with fears of heights (even thought it was rated "difficult"???? Oh well! We did it anyways!!). And boy it was worth it! The path was hard to find at the beginning, but it was well worth the initial struggle. After awhile, the path turned into an old Roman road which I like to believe was used to transport lots and LOTS of cheese and sidra. We were EXHAUSTED after this hike. And we didn't even do half of the full trail. But we still felt like we were very deserving of some pastries from the bakery we spotted in town. We sat down with some sweets and then headed off to the next town. Cangas de OnísWe retraced our drive back to a town called Cangas de Onís. The original plan was to hike near the Lagos de Covadonga. But being too exhausted to hike more and not having enough time to do the hike the next morning before we made the drive back to the airport, our tired feet gladly settled on strolling around the town, shopping for cheese, eating dinner, drinking wine and sidra, and enjoying gelato while watching people dance in the plaza. Awesome trip! And so thankful my mom and I could experience Asturias together!
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AuthorI'm Emma. I love food more than anyone will ever understand - specifically cheese, chocolate, bread and pretty much every fat & carb combo you can think of - apple cider donuts, ice cream, the list goes on. Fats and carbs just go so well together. Don't you think? Why is it when I'm tasked to describe myself, I always talk about food? I guess if you want to learn more about me, you'll have to read my posts about my year as a teacher in Spain. Archives
May 2018
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