Taking the day off

I’m just going to say the thing that you non-travelers don’t want to hear. Traveling in itself sometimes feels like work and on occasion one needs a day off from their days off.

Today is that day for me. It was a hard decision to make since I have a not so cheap rental car sitting in a parking garage for a second day. But it is raining and I totally failed at making yesterday a slow day (I was supposed to do laundry and chill around town, but instead ended up walking around 10 miles in the sun up and down the shore line – after doing laundry).

So today I am sitting in bed catching up on things, doing a little reading. And I am going to try really hard to not feel guilty about it.

Here is some pictures of lovely Gijon to prove I did walk around yesterday.

First of two laundromats I visited yesterday morning. This had half the machines broken.

Gijón

I am staying in Gijón, Spain because of its proximity to small towns for day trips and it looks like a nice city to visit. I am also curious about the Asturias. Every region of Spain has a different culture and I want to get to know them all.

I didn’t end up doing any day trips from Gijón (with the exception of the day I left) but it was a nice town to hang out and relax for a couple days. My visit had pretty much no sightseeing on the agenda but I did wander around Gijón.

Nice beach city in the Bay of Biscay. Everyone was soaking up the sun.

One fun activity is watching these insane boys jump into the water. They kept jumping in and running back up to jump again.

A favorite is viewing the mother of immigrants (La madre del emigrante). Her sad and worried face will haunt you.

My only complaint about Gijón is that I couldn’t even sit down to eat dinner until earliest 8:30 PM. I am not a late night person. The kitchens close after lunch and do not open back up until 8:30-9:00PM. Late dinners has been one of the biggest challenges for me in Europe since I am such an early bird.

El Capricho de Gaudí

During my northern Spain road trip I schedule a stop at El Capricho de Gaudí in Camillos. Comillas is a small town along the northern stretch of Spain. It is busy with day trippers like myself but the big drawl is Gaudi’s work.

El Capricho is one of Gaudi’s earlier works and one of the few outside Barcelona. While building El Capricho he is working on his craft but this is definitely the most “normal” of works I have seen by him thus far.

Hallway around the greenhouse. Nice use of natural light.

He designs furniture too

More Gaudi

Calle del Laurel

One of the best things to do in Logroño is take a tapas stroll down Calle del Laurel. It just so happens that my hotel room is located in the middle of it all.

I only scheduled one evening in town so after some daytime sightseeing I return to my room to freshen up for my food crawl.

During the day the street is easy to navigate but at night it becomes very busy

Logroño does pintxos right. You can find a few cafes that will offer many choices like below.

But what is different about most of this crawl is that there are specialty stops, meaning many places have their item that they do well. In addition most places are paired with a local vintage. So basically you have unique food and wine pairings at each spot.

Logroño really knows how to eat well!

As it gets later the street gets more crowded.

Probably my favorite of the night is Bar Volapie. There are many choices to eat but the specialty is the peel and eat prawns. I enjoyed my prawns and wine.

The crowd keeps getting thicker and I keep getting fuller so it is time to go back to my room. What a great night!

My cute little room

I definitely recommend Logroño as a stop in the region.

Logroño

Logroño and the Rioja region are beautiful. I regret not spending more time in the region. It deserves multiple days at least.

Logroño is a charming town in the middle of Rioja. It is part of the greater Camino de Santiago (French route) as you can see with all the hikers with their muscular legs and huge backpacks walking all over town. It is a hike I may do some day but definitely not this trip. Only day hikes for me for now!