July 15 - July 20
Today, we went on an excursion through the University of Oviedo to Astorga and León. They are both cities in Asturias, and it was about a 2 hour drive from Oviedo to Astorga, and then a 45 minute drive from Astorga to León. We left around 10am and headed to Astorga first...
As soon as we got off the bus, the first thing in sight was the Episcopal Palace by famous Spanish-Catalonian architect; Antoni Gaudi. He is the same architect who created La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona among other well-known monuments, predominantly in Catalonia. Right next to the Palace, stood the Astorga Cathedral, otherwise known as "La Catedral de Santa María de Astorga". Both of these places were so beautiful. I thought the Palace was big, but the cathedral was even bigger. The first two pictures on this post are of the Cathedral, it was so breath-taking. The detailed carvings all over the cathedral were surreal. It was also a perfect, clear summer day, which made the whole experience even better :)
After spending some time in awe of the cathedral, we decided to head to the museum of chocolate. There are only about 11,000 people that live in Astorga, so it may seem weird to you that they manage to have a chocolate museum of all things, like it did to me. The reason why Astorga has a chocolate museum in the first place is because they were one of the first European cities to taste chocolate! It was only 2.50 euros for admission into the museum, and once you were finished in the museum there was Astorgan chocolate that you could try and buy. In the museum, there were two levels. The first level was mainly about the cocoa beans and machines they used, along with a video room where they show how Astorgan chocolate is traditionally made. The second level up the stairs, was more about the people behind the chocolate, etc. My favorite room was on the second level. It was a room full of the old chocolate tins, packaging, etc. The last two pictures I included were from the chocolate museum.
Since we only had around 2 hours before we had to meet everyone on the bus, we ended up not having enough time to visit the "Museo Romano", so instead we walked around the Plaza Mayor of Astorga, which seemed to be the most happening place in the city. In the plaza, there was a street performer with a guitar, playing really beautiful music, it felt like I was in a movie.
Next we headed to León! The city was definitely much larger than Astorga. The main cathedral in the city was being renovated, which was unfortunate, but the town was so pretty nonetheless. I was incredibly tired from the first part of the day, so it felt like we were in León for much longer than we really were. The weather was incredible though and I definitely feel like León is somewhere you could spend more than just a day trip. It definitely felt more lively than Astorga and had a lot of cool restaurants and cafes. Astorga is definitely a good city for a day trip, but I couldn't really see myself spending a lot of time there because there really isn't too much to do, but it's definitely still worth seeing!
We finally returned to Oviedo around 6pm and it was cold and raining! I was in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt and no jacket because in León and Astorga it was around 85 degrees. It was a miserable walk home to say the least.
Carly and I were both so exhausted and so excited to come back home. We rested for an hour, before we needed to start getting ready for dinner. Our host mom went to dinner at her brother's house, and we had a dinner reservation with a group of friends at a restaurant on Gascona street called "Tierr Astur". We ordered way too much food because no one told us how big the portions were, but the food was delicious.
Okay, I'm gonna back-track a little bit to a few days before this trip because I have been slackin on the posts. On Wednesday, my friend Maddie and I went and got our nails done and a gel manicure was only 17 EUROS. Every time I think about it I still am shook, it is so cheap and they did a really good job. Like we are really paying $35 at home to get a gel manicure... I got a bright neon red-orange color (are you surprised?) and the lady that did my nails had me pose my hands after she was done because she said I had nice hands and that the orange looked really good with my tan skin hahah. So holla at me for hand modeling guys 😂
Then on Thursday, my class went to the fine arts museum of Asturias, also known as "Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias". I included my favorite painting in the entire museum above! It is by Salvador Dalí from 1973. It is named "Metamorfosis de ángeles en mariposa". It is of two angels surrounding a female.
Here's a link to a more in-depth description and meaning behind the painting: https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.museobbaa.com/obra/metamorfosis-de-angeles-en-mariposa/&prev=search
On Friday, a group of friends and I went to Gijón after school. It was the hottest day of the week, so we figured we would go to the beach! There was supposed to be an air show planned for Sunday, but I think they were doing a pre-show while we were there, which was cool to see. There was a group of planes doing tricks and different formations right above us on the beach. While waiting for the bus back to Oviedo we met the cutest old man, who was 87 years old! He was from Bilbao but lived in Madrid in his younger years because he was a lawyer there. He now lives in Oviedo. He was so sweet and could also speak French, some English and Dutch I believe.
We came back home around 8pm and had a dinner reservation at 10pm. The reservation was at Goiko Grill, apparently known for their amazing American burgers. It was super good, but the burgers were actually MASSIVE, which seems to be an ongoing theme anytime we choose to go out and eat. So to anyone saying that American-size portions are bad, I swear they're even worse in Northern Spain. I can't speak for all of Spain, but they give you more food here in Asturias than they do back home. I keep having to tell my host mom to give me less food because I can never finish all three courses without forcing it all down and overeating/ wanting to throw up from too much food lmao. She always gets shocked when I tell her to give me less food because she says that usually the portions would be double what she's giving me! Which is actually an insane amount, and here I was thinking that I eat a shit ton of food, but I was just sooo incredibly wrong. Im really hoping the portions aren't really like this everywhere in Europe, or it might be a problem lol.
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