Gijon

Last Saturday Nicole, Jon, Bekie, Jus, Dean, Sarah, Darren, Bal and I all took off for a long weekend in Gijon in Northern Spain, arriving at the regional airport Asturias. We took a taxi to Gijon taking around 25 minutes and costing 40 Euros. Initial thoughts as we sped past the harbour were that we were back in Ramsgate.

We paid the driver and checked into the Mick Jagger suite at the Hotel Celuisma Pathos.

After unpacking we headed to the local Sideria to sit in the afternoon sun and relax.

Heading back to the hotel to change and shower we stopped off at the local market in the old town plaza and bought some local pastries to soak up the booze and tide us over until the evening meal.

We met up with Bal and Darren in the hotel bar after their epic journey and we all headed out on the town. Stopping at various bars for tapas and ending up in a resturant for a slap up meal of Entrecote of beef, a Veal dish, Calamarie and scrambled eggs with baby eels... Yummy.

We ended the night at the excellent Kitsch Cafe and all staggered back to the hotel in the early morning.

The next morning Nicole and I promenaded along the beach, its huge waves crashing in and the sea air clearing our heads. Nicole had a craving for some chips so after a brief walk around the town we ended up in DOS 40, a tidy resturant for lunch and both had a hangover curing "Huevos con frites un jamon" Ham eggs and chips in a spanish stylie.

The rest of the crew turned up in the bar after their walk about and we all settled in for a long afternoon of freshly sliced ham, paprika crisps and various other tapas washed down with Cava, Rioja, Spanish lager and sherry only broken up by brief walks.

The food looked good so we booked a table for the evening and set about translating the menu. Everyone had their own plate this time and the meals and starters included in no paticular order as follows;

"Fabada" which is a rich stew of white beans, morcilla (spanish black pudding), chorizo, pancetta (bacon) and saffron, Which I would highly recomend if you visit Asturias,

Confit de canard, a french dish,

Magret de canard, also a french dish,

Grilled Vegtables, that looked delicious and a whole meal in itself,

Calamari's, this ended up being white fish gijons for some unexplained reason,

Revuelto, a spanish style scrambled eggs,

Prawns with garlic mayonnaise,

Steaks,

The biggest crab salad i've ever seen,

Mushrooms and grilled peppers on toast,

Huevos con frites un jamon

plus other treats that escapes me.

The next morning we all hit the town with our credit cards out, Skinny jeans being the main item on the girls lists and boots. I am pleased to announce that after about ten years of searching Nicole has finally found jeans that actually fit her so she bought two pairs!

I bought surprise surprise for those who know me an Asturian cookbook, the ingredients for Fabada, and some Sardine paste, a favorite on our summer picnics.

We got to the airport in good time and treated ourselves to a last spanish lunch before boarding the plane back to Stanstead.

A big thank you to Lord Jonathon Stringer for organising the trip and can't wait for the next one...

KK...

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