There is something very pleasant about
waking to the sound of distant cowbells. We’ve just done that in a small country hotel in the Asturias region of Northern Spain.
After flying from Madrid, taking the high speed train to Santander, and then
driving to the village of La Pedrera, their gentle
morning wake up call was a perfect start to our holiday.
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| In the countryside and off the beaten track. Perfect. |
2. Spanish siesta
I’ve always known that these two words go
together and that they refer loosely to the Spanish belief in an afternoon nap.
However there’s more. I now know that in the interests of siesta, all shops, including supermarkets and restaurants, shut at
2.30 and then open again at 8.00ish.
Consequently, if you want a late lunch or an early dinner, you are dead
out of luck. Which is why one of us has now started referring to our holiday as
the Spanish Diet Plan.
3. Fortuitous finds
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| Beautiful Potes nestled among the mountains of the Picos de Europa. |
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| Market day and local cheeses for sale |
I love discovering things unexpectedly, for
instant a market day in a small village square, such as the one we came across
in Potes. Or the really extraordinarily unexpected, such as the exhibition we
came across, also in Potes, housed in the fifteenth century Torre del Infantado.
It was entitled, somewhat enigmatically, The
Cosmos of Beatus of Liebana and included among other things, illuminated
manuscripts covering John’s apocalyptic messages from the book of Revelation.
Now I’d like to read more about the
Apocalypse, because I’ve realized how little I know. Perhaps there’s a
potential Christmas present in there somewhere.
4. Lovable
oddity
One of my favourite books is Prayers from the Ark by Carmen Bernos De
Gasztold. It's a collection of small
poems, each one written from the point of view of an animal on the ark. So for instance, the elephant talks about
being “embarrassed by his great self” but then also reflects on his need to
rejoice “in the lovable oddity of things.”
We’ve had a few “lovable oddity” moments
ourselves. Yesterday in Aviles, for instance. We heard the bagpipes before we
saw them. It was a street procession with a difference.
I'd thought it odd when I came across Saudi bagpipers at Janadriyah a couple of years ago, but now I’m wondering if assuming
bagpipes to be the exclusive domain of the Scottish may be a major error of judgment.
5. Déjà vu
We’ve also had some déjà vu experiences.
In the Museum of Altamira, we looked at an exhibition featuring Palaeolithic
cave art from the surrounding Iberian coastal area.
As part of the exhibition, we
saw a map displaying examples of cave art worldwide. And there, marked in the area of the Middle
East was the very same cave art we’d quite literally walked past when we
visited the Nabatean tombs at Madain Saleh two years ago.
Seeing it here, in so
significant a context, felt quite extraordinary.
We've another five days in Spain and then a
week in Portugal. I’m guessing there’ll
be more extraordinary moments to come.
