Summer Holidays (2015)

Second week.

Ansó

Arguably, one of the most beautiful villages in Spain.

Ansó.
A village hanging in the mountains.
Made of stones and flowers.
More stones and more flowers.
The church, with interesting architecture.
Remains from the republic.
1733.
A street.
Typical house.
The Plaza Mayor.
Balcony.
Meeting a friend.
The main street.
River nearby,
in the Valle de Anso.

Siresa

The village nearby Hecho, home of a Monasterio de San Pedro.

The 'Monasterio de San Pedro.
Close-up.
Typical house.
All stones.
With blackberries.
Even cars don't spoil it that much.
Notice the chimney again.
Imposing house.
Middle-age Virgin, XIII.
El Cristo de Siresa.
An impressive presence
of eerie modernity.
Triptych.
Christ again.
Middle-age painting.

Hecho

Casa la Cope, one of the oldest of the village, with locals discussing.
Typical rooftop.
Typical street.
Typical houses.
Typical view.
The church.

San Juan de la Peña

Incrusted in the rocks.
We first tried to visit with Georges.
But it was closed when we arrived.
So we returned, with Elena and Julia only,
to get literally inside the rock.
A pause in the visit.
The decoration pattern of Jaca.
Stones meets rocks.
The vault, supporting light and a mountain.
An unknown motif (maybe Cain & Abel).
Lazarus.
The last supper.
Detail of Jesus toying with Peter's mouth. Note also the disproportionate eyes.
The devil.
The famous claustro overall.

Santa Cruz de la Serós

There is also a village nearby, Santa Maria, which is worth a visit.

A little church at the exit of the village.
The main church.
The mountains, in the distance.

Vitoria

On our way to Asturias from the Pyrenees, we stopped by a couple of important locations. First one was Vitoria (or Vitoria-Gasteiz with its Basque name).

Typical architecture from the north,
with covered balconies,
hanging on all the floors,
sometimes protruding so much as to define a new house,
but always providing a very nice touch.
Vitoria's center is a series of concentric streets,
these are some of these.
A square.
Of course several wars also found Vittoria on its way.
The various elliptic streets are linked by such radial streets.
Vitoria is rich of street art.
Same view as above on our way back, in the evening.

Bilbao

Our next stop was Bilbao.

A specialty of these northern Basque cities are elaborated tapas ('pinchos).
Observing daring birds who like tapas too.
The streets of Bilbao are similar to those of Vittoria,
maybe a bit more looked after.
A beautiful church of naturally colored stones.
A shop cast in the church.
The sky fragmented between sunny and cloudy added much to the atmosphere.
We didn't cross to the other side. Bilbao is one of the biggest city in Spain.
Paseo by the river.
The main square.
More city-birds watching.
A livelier street.
A typical local game, throwing pellets to a frog.
Along the river.
The famous Guggenheim museum.
Detail of the architecture.
Inside.
You could make picture of some things, like this spherical mirror, but not everything.
This [1] was not supposed to be photographed.
Inside the previous structure. We never knew if this was licit or not.
This famous balloon puppy by Jeff Koons is all metal.

Beach

One of our favorite of Asturias is the beach.
There is great local seafood available.
The beaches are many and with a strong character.
Mixing sand and stones.
It makes for very nice walks along the sea.
It's not Cornwall but it's definitely superior to the Mediterranean beaches.
Julia in her tent.
A little fellow in a puddle.
Playing with the sand.
In the wet sand.
Looking at the see.
That sometimes get very close.
So close you could touch it!
Ayyye!
El Cabo de Peñas. The North-erst point of Asturias.
With impressive precipices.
And gorgeous waters.
Our little visitor coming there to the first, but certainly not the last, time.

Luanco

Luanco is a little village by the sea.
It has some of the touches of Northern architecture, although of course with moderation.
A nice tower.
Our favorite was the church, with its covered walk.
Interesting statue.
The night falling on Asturias.