Looking for Spain - How long until we get there?

The sun rose up early in the summer of Spain. And so were we. Before having to leave the city of lions, we took the time to wander about a little more. The first stop was the beautiful St Marcos church. Although it looked simple-looking from the outside, I got surprised about what was inside of it. Likewise the facade, the interior was romanic, with a touch of baroque on the junctions of the church, making it a rather undressed, yet beautiful to see church. But the main hall was not the only surprise for us. As we walked in, soon we realised of the "hidden" rooms and exhibitions that the St. Marco's had to show us. From sculptures to pieces of porcelain to whole rooms, this was a rather encounter!

Yet, we couldn't afford to remain more time in the church, nor in Leon, as other lands were waiting for us. Thus, after a quick snack, we departed again to lands beyond our grasp. 

Our initial idea was that of setting course to Coruña but, the country surprised us with two unknown marvels. The first one, which was what convinced us to leave the road… was Astorga's cathedral. It's grandness can be compared with the one of Leon, yet less known. What we didn't know was that this cathedral would blow my head away. Such detailed, accurate work on stone; such dimensions and elaborate refinements; the light and colour cast inside it; it's incredibly large, tall pillars that sustain such presentation… no wonder that when christianism was spreading around, building like this would have an immense part on the convincing of the non-believers!

Astorga's cathedral was not the only surprise that Astorga brought to us. Oh no! Right around the corner, another building stood up for us to enter in. It was nothing but Gaudi's Palace. Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pictures and even if I tried to sneak some frames, few were the places where a CCTV camera wouldn't caught me doing it. Anyway, just to introduce you a bit about it, this palace was initially built by the hand of Gaudi to be a residential house for the clerk people travelling to Astorga. But the palace never did it's job and now what we see is a fully prepared palace, adorned in the same fashion as the Sacred Family's House, in Barcelona. Nonetheless, the palace itself is already taken out from a fantasy book from the outside and the interior of it only push it upper, to the realm of Heaven (thinking of this as a work to God's shepherds).

Being a bit frustrated for not having been able to explore Gaudi's palace more, and seeing the sun going ever more to west, we left and got back to our first set route. Having nothing to complain about, apart from the photograph issue at Gaudi's, and full of memories and stories to think about, I fell asleep.

When my eyes opened again, I was at the outskirts of La Coruña, seeing from the window the urbanised immensity of the city: the noise, traffic, agglomeration of people and the never stopping sound that a big city always makes. Yet, I was a awe, for memories of previous trips to Coruña had just came to my mind. Hence, not yet we had a place to stay, already was I talking about bits and deeds to see and do.

Our accommodation was arranged on the south side of Coruña. Even though we were a bit off the centre, this location was ideal to leave early in the morning, avoiding all the just waken up metropolitan peak-time. It was not much of a deal for us though, for we'd rather spend less and travel more over being closer to everything and pay double or tripple. Let those who have condition to restrain their wander to the best of comforts take such places. Let us walk, drive, sweat and feel, at the end of the day, somehow like our bodies are reaching it's limits, only to realize the next day that there are still strengths to carry on, for when the fire of will still burns, we shall always more forth.

Many things are yet to be seen here, but that will stay for tomorrow.

Because now, we stay here.

Looking for Spain - The Spanish Lion

A small, fast night took us hold, though more that what we needed, and we set loose again. The magnificence of Picos was still on my mind; yet I could not stay longer there. The call of the wild was not strong enough… no worries though, as it will be not long the next call.

Tiredness was amongst us, but we carried on. Even though our backs, constrained for a majority of the time, stuck to the shape of the seat, shouted for a long walk, we carried on.

The sun was having his tea break when we go to the city of the lion. Open, wide and ancient were my first impressions about Leon, a city with more than a lot of history. Even before talking about Leon, as a city, I want to tell you a story.

When I was 17, on my second year of high school we planned a trip, alongside Philosophy. This school trip was meant for us to come, spend 2 days having a good time with our mates and, at the same time, discover a little more about Leon and the arts that there exists. There was a bit of a controversy when not all of the people where able to go to Leon but in the end I got chosen to be part of that experience.

However, something big came that made it impossible for me to attend it. My alarm didn't rang and when supposed to be at school, my body still rested on the comfort of the bed. I was awaken by a friend and, when realized about the circumstanced, make my way as fast as possible to try to make it. Unfortunately, the teachers were too impatient and started the way without me. You now may think of what I am about to say as it karma maybe but, because there was a scheduled program and they wanted to arrive early at Leon to visit MUSAC (Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon) and the coach left at the arranged, without me, when at Leon, everyone had to wait one hour for the museum to open, more than enough time to join them.

Anyway, I am not here to talk about the amazing trip friends of mine had and I didn't because even though I wanted to have been there with them, I knew someday I would come here. And the time has come.

The colours of the city: warm and vibrant. Happy, emotional casts that made me feel very comfortable there. Plus, the stories of the past trip gave an extra punch, as I tried to recreate and imagine whereabouts and how they were, either through the pictures, histories or videos that came to me.

Enough story, though. As we got inside Leon's cathedral, after the first staggering impression about the delicacy and detailed ornamentation of it, it was the people, and how they fancied looking up. Almost every people was starring up, as if trying to find something. And as you may have noticed already, they had some unusually big phones. There were nothing more, nothing less, than audio guides, like the ones you get on museums (sometimes) to help you understanding what was and why was made that way. Funny to see, educative to listen. I just hoped that the voice of the phone was one of an old, story telling man... Oh, how lovely would be to walk around and listen to the many tales behind such amazing architectural constructions!

From the back of the cathedral, a 5 minute walk separated us from the hostel we stayed at. Although in the very heart of Leon, this one revealed itself very cosy, warm (like the city) and cheap! After this first walk about, we picked up our things and head to the rooms. First, to confirm a room and avoid hours of search. Secondly, to take a nice, cold summer shower, the thing to do when the heat rises up. And being in the city of the spanish lion, how could such city not be warm?

Because we didn't adventure ourselves on these lands to stay at the hostels, we left again, before sunset to see the warmest colour cast shinning on an indeed warm city. People look friendly, smooth and vibrant, yet very to themselves, making it a rather comfortable city to walk around for, and get lost.

Right before the sun faded away, we were at the very point where the river breaks through the city. Here, I looked at a statue that, hand held up in the hair, points towards the light; also to the way we are meant to go next.

And for now, we stay her...

Looking for Spain - The wild lands

There is not much I could speak of Santander, for we didn't see much of it. I guess that, after all we had seen, arriving this city made us realize the pace and traffic of a modern city. Noise, noise, noise; traffic all around, people everywhere… indeed not what we, or at least I had in mind for our discoveries. To take in consideration though that, places like such are always good to be experienced, even if for the simple reason of enhancing the good places we might discover ahead. So never think that what you do is wrong, for it might take you to a very beautiful destination.

Santander stayed where it is known to be. And so did we: travelling. Being so close to it, it would be impossible not to pass through Picos de Europa. Such beauty and wonder was to grand to make me convince the rest of the people that we should go there. As for what we could do, or not, I left to my dad.

Thus, while already at the National Park, we stopped to grab a coffee (to notice that coffee in Spain has been improved tremendously on the last couple of years. Cheers!) and a bottle of water, when I asked where we where heading. My father simply replied: to a very nice place, in Fuente Dé.

Following less the digital map and more the signs (at this point we didn't trust it very much) in hopes to get there soon. As Fuente Dé was getting nearer, the mountains became big and steep; as so became my eyes, full of excitement!

If you don't know what Fuente Dé is... let me explain to you. This is one of the many spots in Picos de Europa where you can go to to then treek, or get the cable car to get up to the mountains. This one in particular, was a way up to about 1800m, always a breathtaking way up.

Even though I was eager to do the treek (about 1 hour walk), I was convinced not to go, for if I had any troubles, having no way of contacting no one would be troublesome and could compromise the whole journey. So, rather than walking for an hour, we waited for 3 long hours, enough time for my dad to rest from the tiresome car journeys, and enough time to follow a route opposite of the one leading the mountain, this proved to be staggering, for after a 20 minute treek, I found a spot that was just beautiful and made me wanna go up to those misty mountains.

At last, after many walks and talks, time was for us to go up and up and ever higher. Rocky and vast, was the landscape we no embraced. Miles and miles of land for one to be lost in; plenty of paths to take and walk, for as many hours as hours can be put on.

So enormous were this formations that, only to give you an example of it's plentitude, the photograph bellow has people in it. But they are nothing but a small black dot, right under the light on the hill. It is how magnificent these parts of Spain can be.

Funny how what fells good seems to fly. This is how this travel was running: way too fast for what was to be seen. Yet, we had to carry on and keep the memories of we had passed through safe in our heart, and keep the fresh so that, whenever one was, fly back to the exact moment where we felt a shiver, or felt fear for what was ahead of us; the amazing texture of the grass and the warm, yet chilly sensation of the wind dacing around us. Yet, we had to move on.

To have dinner, of course. First we eat, then we look for a shelter. We were recommended a good traditional restaurant at the north edge of Picos. The food, so delicious it was, came fast to our hungry stomaches, so fast that the photograph of our desert wasn't taken in time to be preserved. Nonetheless, I won't forget the softness of the creamy cheese, combined with the crunchiness of the dough. The sounds and pleasure that my body felt as, bit by bit, such a desert was being tasted by the four of us. Sometimes I even thought how such food can be eaten by such people... this is food from heaven.

Such an amazing dinner had to had consequences: there was no place for four people to stay around. Hence, we drove, for miles to be lost, stopping here and there to try our luck. At the end, after two long ours of search, almost were the possibility of sleeping in the car was getting more of a reality, a shelter appeared in front of us.

Tired and fatigued, we hurried our bodies to the comfort of the bed.

And for now, we stay here...