Traveling to Northern Spain

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Traveling with over 20 people is never a good idea.

Our tour bus picked us up early this morning and we got started on the 6-hour bus ride. The first problem that came up was that one girl didn’t make it in time! She got left behind as we began the group trip.

According to Spanish law drivers have to stop to rest every few hours, so we made two stops where we enjoyed the picnics packed by our families. We passed from the Madrid area into Castilla-León, the original area of Spain before it added all of the rest of the autonomous communities. In Castilla there were fields of grapes and solar panels equally. Next came Asturias, our destination region. Mountainous and green with rivers, Asturias looks completely different from Madrid, which is suffering from drought.

We toured the capital of Asturias, Oniedo, with its naked modern statues. So far this trip I’ve loved trying the official dessert of each area. In Asturias it’s carbayón, which has almonds and tons of sugar. I’ll let you know when I find a dessert I don’t like.

Next, getting towards 7PM, we went for a walk up a bit of a mountain to see a panoramic view of Oniedo. It was beautiful! Some of the girls were such drama queens though. One of them complained about how much she had to pee but refused to go in the woods. We offered to show her how or go with her but she told us that she “doesn’t pee in woods.” So, she held it for the hike and then for the hour and a half drive to our hotel. Hope that was worth it!

We’ve arrived at our hotel! The girl who got left behind met us here. I’m so glad she made it ok through a combination of walking, bus, train, and hitchhiking. She’s one of my roommates.

Off to a cidrería with everyone! Asturias is also famous for their hard cider.

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