Rest Day in Candas

While waiting to be picked up by our friends Nardo and Belen, our breakfast was accompanied by a troup of traditional Asturian dancers and musicians dressed in full regalia performing in the small plaza near our hostal. When they marched off, Nardo and Belen arrived. These are very old, very good friends from Galicia and we knew we would spend an awesome day with them. They wanted to take us to a small town they liked and have a weekend getaway of their own.



The festivities started with an unbelievable lunch in a traditional Asturian asador with sidras poured in the traditional manner from above the head into glasses held below the waist to aerate the cider, then swallowed in own gulp. We were seated in a giant empty cider barrel turned on its side for a meal of woodfire-grilled meats piled high on a platter of fried potatos: ox, steak, veal, pork ribs, lomo, murcilla, chorizo and probably more. This was the pinnacle of rustic meat eating. We followed lunch with glasses of hierbas outdoors under a tall horreo.





What an enjoyable afternoon and evening, it really seemed like a vacation. It was a great feeling to see familiar faces on a trip that we´re sharing mostly with strangers. We drove along the coast, stopping at a pretty harbour to take in the local charm. They had arranged rooms at a hotel, a HOTEL! What luxury. After such a huge lunch, we had a late dinner of salad, Cabrales cheese with fruit spread and pastel de cabracho, a fish pate.