Asturias

We took a wonderful trip to the north coast of Spain this last weekend.  All of Spain that I have seen has been dry, rocky and brown.  Not so on the north coast.  I have found my new favorite place, the region of Asturias.  It was an area of outstanding beauty, and reminded me of Switzerland.  It was so green and lush.  There were great mountains, little valleys, darling villages, and towns, lakes and rivers.  There were several places I loved, but Covadonga has to be my favorite.  I'm posting pictures of the whole region.

Cangas de Onis.
It is a darling town that I would have liked to have spent more time in.  This is a tiny little chapel.

This bridge crossed a rather dry river.  Spain has been very dry this year, I'm told,
but it is also late in the season, and the rain hasn't started yet.

Cute well.

Now this is interesting.  This little house on stilts is one of many, everywhere you look.  Every home seems to have one.  Here Greg is talking to some locals to see what's up with the stilts.  We were told that everyone stores their vegetables, fruits etc. in these little buildings, and the stilts with the stones on top keep the mice and rats away.  Sounds good to me.

Greg finds friends where ever he goes.

This is the draw to Cangas.  It is a Roman bridge crossing the river.  I'm not sure how much is original and how much is like the axe that crossed the plains.

I like these guys.  I'm not sure what the story is on them.

The Roman bridge.  You can see how dry the river is.

There is a cross hanging from the center of the bridge.

This is Kim Leatham standing on the bridge.  All these
uneven stones are really hard to walk on.

All this region is colorful and well kept.

This is an iron ring on the bridge where people put their locks to symbolize their committed love.  There is a bridge over the Seine River in Paris that is famous for that tradition.

The river that runs under the bridge.

These pictures are taken from on top of the bridge.

Greg with Dan Leatham.  The Leathams arrived at the same time we did.  They are great people.  This was our first trip together.  We were supposed to take this trip back in September with them, but Greg had a heart attack instead.  So we finally got to do it.

Dan and Kim Leatham from Pleasant Grove, UT.

Downtown Cangas de Onis.

A cool church in Cangas.

Now we come to Covadonga.

This is a chapel in Covedonga that was built in the mouth of a cave in 722 AD.  
 There are 100 steps up to it.

Covadonga was the site of the beginning battle of the reconquest from the Moors.  
This chapel was built to honor the place where Don Pelayo and other soldiers 
sought refuge.  His tomb is in the cave.

Now if this was spring, you would see a fantastic waterfall running underneath the church into this pond below.  You can see two tiny figures to the bottom left of the picture. There is a little spring that legend says, those who drink from this spring will have success in love and marriage.  People were drinking, and others filling bottles.  Greg and I have already found success in love and marriage, so we didn't make the trip to the spring.

I love this place so much!

This is a shot inside the cave, and you can see the basilica in the back ground to the left.

Once we were inside the cave we discovered there 
was a much easier entrance with no stairs.
These are candles that people have lit.

The Basilica.

To the left of the basilica there is a building that houses the boys 
who sing in the choir for the basilica.  They are Spain's answer to the
Vienna Boys Choir.

This is the fantastic old hotel we stayed in.  Our rooms
were the three windows you see on the third floor. We got two beautiful bedrooms, two gorgeous bathrooms, and a very nice living room for 50 euros per couple.  Its hard to get a Motel 6 for that! An incredible buffet breakfast was included.

This is Don Pelayo.  I think he looks like Helaman.  He has a headband,
breast plate and sword, with a dramatic cape over his shoulders.

This is the Great Bell of Covadonga.
It weighs 11,000 pounds.

The door of the basilica.

This is the Sanctuary that houses the nuns from the basilica and boys school.

You can see the convent on the right with the Chapel in the center, and Kim below.

This is one of the views from our room.


This is another view.

And this is another view, the boys choir school.

This was our night view.

Then we took a drive into the Picos de Europa (Peaks of Europe.)
They are really magnificent, and my pictures do not do them justice.

Sheep grazing.

Cows were roaming free, and climb like mountain goats.

The cows wear bells, and we found these two by following the sound.
Their bells sound like wind chimes.

This is a beautiful lake in the Picos de Europa.

With the sun in my face, I could not get a good picture of this gorgeous spot.

We then headed to the beach.  

This beautiful old home on the boardwalk has been turned into a hotel.  I would love to stay here.

All along the beachfront were beautiful homes.  Kind of like a Spanish mini Newport RI.

The tide was really low, and left a very interesting beach

 covered in colorful stones.

We had a good time picking up pretty stones on the beach.  

Kim and Dan have their hands full.

This cute guy loves any photo op.

Tunnels are everywhere in all of Asturias.  I liked the cows grazing on top of this one.

Our last stop in Asturias was a cute fishing village named Cudillero.

Fishing nets. While fishing is the industry here, at one
time this town had the reputation of being a pirate cove.

Greg gets a rest while I head out to capture the character of this cute town.

The town is built vertical against the hills.  Everyone I saw was in pretty good shape.

Although this area is supposed to have many lighthouses, this is the only I spotted.

This is inside a cute church in Cudillero.

Note the vegetation on the roofs.

I cannot wait to get back to Asturias!

Museo Arqueologico Nacional, and Colon Plaza

We spent a great P-day at the Museo Arqueologico Nacional.  It covered time from prehistoric to Roman, to medieval, to early modern times.  It was a great museum and was free to us old folks.

 Spain is an important site for archeological finds.  Some of the oldest prehistoric finds were in Spain.  this museum has only artifacts from within Spain, with the exception of an Egyptian exhibit.

This is the best man of all.  He is THE MAN!

This guy was found wearing his gold crown.

A re-creation of a man and his belongings found in his grave covered with stones.

This guy is just plain creepy.

This was a child skeleton.

Roman times

 

The "ship home" found in a tomb.

Displayed with mummy inside.

I love this one.

There was a great display related to the medieval church.

Illuminated Bibles

Medieval armor 

"Modern Times"
Sedan chair

Next to the museum is a square dedicated to Christopher Columbus and his expeditions.

His statue is in the street.

 In the middle of Columbus, or Colon square.

On these big forms the story of Columbus and his voyages are shown.

A great day out.

Life On A Mission

In spite of how our picture posts look, we are on a mission in Spain.  The best mission anywhere.  We are still working hard in La Casa Del Señor.  I can't think of a better place to be, or to work.

Our beloved temple president, President Tenney, and his wife flew home yesterday, after three years of dedicated service.  It was really hard to say goodbye to them. We are going to miss them so much. President Somoza and his wife are back from the new temple president's conference in Salt Lake.  They are going to be wonderful at the helm of the temple.  They are such sweet people. He was President Tenney's counselor for the past three years.  They are from Madrid, and have been living in their own home.  Now they will be moving into the Tenney's apartment on the 6th floor.  The new counselor, President Duffin, and his wife have arrived from the States, and moved into the Alves' old apartment two doors down.  They are great people, and both of them speak Spanish and English, which is of great relief to me.  He served his mission in Spain, as a youth, and has been a mission president in Panama and an Area Authority Seventy.

Goodbyes have been rampant around here.  It seems like someone is headed for home almost weekly.  The Schellenbergs left for home a few weeks ago, due to serious health issues. The Zundels have finished their time here, the Tenney's are gone, and the Sullivans and Monteros leave this weekend. The Grieves will go in two weeks.  By the end of the year we will lose the Duartes, and Sister Cioban. It doesn't seem like they are being replaced very quickly, but so far we have one Spanish couple, the Salgados, who moved in next door to us.  Another Spanish couple is supposed to arrive in the next couple of weeks.  The American couples are dwindling in numbers.  I believe the idea is to eventually have all Spanish missionaries.

There has been a lot of illness lately.  The missionaries have been hit with the flu, colds, ear infections, allergies and bad backs.  Today our dear friend, Dave Hawkins, had an emergency appendectomy.  His wife Charlotte is suffering from a really bad cold, after just recovering from two weeks of serious intestinal problems.  I guess that's what you get when you have a bunch of old people hanging out together. Several of us got together last week to have a flu shot party.  Sister Sullivan is the mission nurse, and gave all the shots.

We also had a farewell dinner for the Zundels and the Sullivans at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

The last couple of weeks we have had Stakes from France visiting.  It has given Greg a good workout with his French skills.  He's done well, and we would have a hard time getting by without him. They have been great to work with and we have been pretty impressed.  I'm getting much better at not speaking the language.  I seem to get by, but I don't know how.  This week I have been able to use my English a lot more, since so many of the French speak English.  I give them the option of receiving the ordinances in Spanish or English, and most of them choose English. It has made me think hard, since I don't often do the ordinances in my native tongue.

This Sunday we are going to be part of Meridian North Stake Conference via Skype.  It is the Sunday early morning meeting.  We're kind of excited to talk to our home Stake. 

Well, that's about all the news on our end.  We are well, happy, and busy.  We feel so grateful for this opportunity.  The Lord has really blessed us.