Part 2 of our Spanish road trip

Leaving bustling Madrid, the highway quickly opened to pastoral vistas. In about an hour, we made a quick pit and pic stop in the medieval city of Segovia. The draw was a spectacularly well-preserved Roman Aqueduct. It’s an engineering feat encompassing 167 arches and dates back to the 1st Century.

Our next and final stop of the day was the medieval town of Salamanca, home to one of Europe’s oldest and still functioning Universities. Also home to a mind-blowing gothic, super crenellated Church. And our little hotel, aptly name La Puerta del La Catedral, was right across from the bell tower.

The campus & church are separated from town by walls and it’s mostly a pedestrian only area. We wandered over to the hopping Plaza Mayor for a tapas dinner and ice cream! Followed by exhausted sleep.

The next morning, we headed further inland toward Oviedo—our first North Coast stop. The roads are great in Spain and we didn’t run into much traffic ever…until a posse of sheep decided to cross the road. Why did the sheep cross the road? Because they can!

We were traversing vast swaths of farmland replete with haystacks. It was lovely but I started feeling nasty and blamed it on allergies from said hay.

We drove on, finally descending through a green and fog bedecked mountain highway to our day’s destination: Oviedo, county seat of Astorias. And, most importantly, a gateway to one Spain’s most celebrated national parks—Picos de Europa—where we planned to go hiking.

We checked into our luxe hotel in the city center tired from the drive and allergies. I was feeling nastier and nastier. I couldn’t eat my rustic dinner but Andy liked his and we both liked the cider or sidra that’s the local alcoholic beverage of choice.

Then to bed. The next day has come to be known as “the lost day.” I was so sick and we both were so tired that we mostly slept and only went out for food. No hikes in the national park as previously planned. Don’t remember much besides a mountain of used Kleenex.

The next day, feeling a bit better, we headed to the seaside town of Gijon for some restorative sea air. But first laundry!

En route to the laundromat, I spotted a modern bistro called Gloria with a menu beyond the usual fare. I made a rezy. Clean clothes, a dinner plan and a trip to the sea. Things were looking up.

Gijon was charming but, this early in the season, most waterfront restaurants were still closed. Still, there were bobbing boats in the harbor, an old city meets modern vibe and, the excellent and restorative sea air.

This bout of mine, however, was clearly more than allergies…it was a full blown cold with sneezing, coughing etc. that kept me hacking all night. It was only a matter of time before Andy joined me! That would be the following morning!

Instead of finding seafood by the sea, we ate Italian at Carbone’s looking out to sea. We had fantastic fire-grilled mussels and coal-fire pizza in this packed and stylish restaurant where everyone famous seems to have dropped off a headshot!

Back in Oviedo, our dinner at Gloria’s ( my pre-laundry find) was also excellent and we were happy to have a delicious chicken and rice dish to share. All in all, not a bad day for still being sick.