Saturday, February 20, 2016

This morning we picked up a rental car in León and headed north. It is a beautiful sunny day. The route took us through the mountains.

We are staying in a Parador in Cangas de Onís. It used to be a monastery. This one is much smaller than the one in León. We got lucky and happen to be here for the dinner and cheeses tasting planned to celebrate their 1270th year.

This afternoon we went for a walk along the river.

Then we went to the cheese tasting,

And the tour.

Each course had a beer pairing. This is the trout soup with Affligem Blond Beer.

We finished the meal after midnight.

Friday, February 19, 2016

Today we spent the whole day in León. We went to the Museo de León. It had artifacts from people who have lived in this area starting as far back as 300,000 years ago. A lot of the more recent stuff was found when they were digging foundations for buildings in the last hundred years. I love the idea that people here might find Roman artifacts in their back yard! It helped me enjoy the museum more that it had labels in English as well as Spanish!

We wandered the streets of León.

Stopped for chocolate.

Took a tour of our Parador Monastery

And had tapas for dinner.

Thursday, February 18, 2016

Our train from Vigo to León left at 7:45am. We actually had to set an alarm to get up in time! The trip was about 6 hours long and went through quite a bit of snowy mountainous country. There was only one other person in our car.

In León we are staying at a big Parador in an old monastery. Our room overlooks the garden and the river. It is cold here but the sun is shining.

We went to see the gothic cathedral. It has colorful glowing stained glass everywhere. It was the most beautiful cathedral we have seen on this trip.

Dinner was in a local cafe, steak and potatoes and a shared crepe for desert.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

This morning we left our Pousada in Portugal and drove to Portugal’s second largest city, Porto. It was a bit of a challenge but we eventually found the rental car return place, dropped off the car and caught a taxi to the bus company office. We bought our bus tickets and left our bags in the office.

When Duke was planning our trip there is only one place in Portugal that I told him I really wanted to see. Livraria Lello & Irmão. I think I saw it on a list of most beautiful bookstores in the world. According to Wikipedia “The bookstore was frequented by JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, when she taught English in Porto and is reported to be an inspiration for her writing.”

In order to go into the store you have to buy a €3 voucher which you can take off the price of anything you buy.

I felt like I was in a bibliophile heaven. Of course I bought a book!

This church was across the street from the bookstore.

After Livraria Lello we retrieved our bags and caught our bus. From Porto we headed north to Vigo in Spain.

For dinner we decided to have something different and somewhat exotic.

They were really delicious and I can tell you mine hit the spot!

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

This will be our last night in Portugal. Today we drove west through the mountains to a Pousada in the mountains not far from Porto where we will turn in our car.

We stopped in the town of Chaves for a break. Chaves has been a key strategically important town for centuries. Their Roman-era bridge was completed in AD 104.

The mountain valleys that we drove through had several dams and hydroelectric plants.

Lampreys are a delicacy that are only available in the spring here. Our appetizer was marinated lamprey.

For desert we had a sampling of many deserts.