Next Stop – Gijon

From A Coruna we took the bus to Gijon, also a large, coastal city. For much of the drive we got glimpses of the Atlantic Ocean. Of course, the drive was once again a lot longer as we stopped at few out-of-the-way towns, even though it was an “Inter Urban Bus.”

The city of Gijon (pronounced Heehon) is larger than expected but it’s our favorite so far. We arrived mid afternoon after a 6 hour trip and did what is now becoming our routine: went for a cervesa/vino blanco at a wifi bar/cafe where we could locate ourselves on the map while at the same time, checking on Booking.com for a hotel close to where we were (close to the bus station). We have discovered that we like to be close to the station for easy access to the buses on travel days but also because very often in the city where it’s easy to lose your bearings, there are often signs pointing the direction to the ‘estacion de autobus.’ We check into our hotel/hostel/pension, drop our packs and usually set off to explore our newest neighborhood. Here is a map (our very enthusiastic man at the reception desk explained where things were in detail LOL). The old city is the part in between the two sandy beaches towards the top of the map with the circle drawn around it.

Found a marvellous hotel, Hotel Central:

By the time we set off to explore, it was evening. We found the beach and the promenade and so many people out enjoying the unseasonably warm weather;

The next day we explored the old city with the fort on the top of the hill with beautiful views:

Pigeons bathing in the old fountain:

The port:

Lots of beaches in Gijon and I learned from the sweet man at the reception desk of our hotel, that they are some of the best surfing beaches in Spain.We walked one way along the beach, barefoot, captivated by the antic of the dogs and their owners:

Stopped at a seaside bar for a cervesa. When I went into the ‘Ladies’ I found these floor to ceiling pics in the cubicles. Michael found the same in the men’s (of the opposite sex of course) LOL: