La Senda del Oso (The Bear Route), Proaza

After a hard day yesterday, when we visited Oviedo & Gijón, I was looking forward to doing some walking today and was hoping for a car-free day...

Toño, out host, encouraged us to do the bear route, saying that we'd be walking through a beautiful forest and that we'd likely see some of the three Asturian bears along the way. Sounded interesting.

At the edge of the town we crossed the bridge, and turned left, where we found Oso Goloso. It's a small café, which also provides bicycles for rent. Prices were tempting, €9 for the whole day, but we preferred to walk. The girl in the shop actually recommended a route going the other way, towards Entrago, saying that it was a more beautiful route, but it was a 14km walk and we hadn't planned for that. Had we known it before, I'd have been more interested in that.

Especially after the walk we did.

It was summer, after all. It was hot, the river was a gentle flowing stream, and it wasn't as green as I'd expected. The bears were actually in an enclosure - there were three of them - in a valley, and the path was some way up. We couldn't go close to the enclosure.

To be honest, it was rather sad. I don't like zoos much, especially when the animals are in small cages. Here, they are a bit freer, but it must be terribly boring for them. They're still enclosed, after all. This day was so hot that we couldn't see any at first - they were all hiding in some shade or other, I suspected.

And then, we spotted it.

A lonely bear (As usual, click on any image to see a larger version)

I didn't have a lens long enough to zoom in close. I could crop the photo, but I prefer to share this view as you can then have an idea of their enclosures.

Later, it came a little closer. Or it could have been a different bear, I couldn't really tell. There were several enclosures, but I think they're inter-connected.

A bear posing

After passing the enclosures, we carried on for a while and then decided to turn back. It was very hot and it didn't look inviting enough for us to carry on. On the way back, we saw all the three bears, although not together except for these two.

Asturian bears

They were walking back into the shade, and so were we...

Plaza Nueva, de nuevo

Continued from Free jazz at the Guggenheim

As I followed the Nervion River towards Arriaga, I allowed my camera to be seduced, once again, by Zubizuri Bridge, the results of which you would have seen here. This particular attempt didn't make it to that post.

As you would have guessed, by the time I got back to the apartment, it was quite late. Haha. Story of my life. Late to leave in the morning, late to leave in the evening...

Anyway, a quick shower, and time to search for some food. Taking into account the time, the best bet would be...yup, Plaza Nueva, for the second night running. On the first night, we ended up at Inma's. This time, we decided to stop at Bar Charly. It was buzzing, waiters dressed in black, with CHARLY emblazoned across their chest, running around, fighting for space behind the bar, which was still stacked with pintxos at 11.30pm, the time we got in, more or less. Some of their neighbours were already packing up.

One stool available, which was good enough for us. It's quite customary to stand and eat by the bar in Spain, especially if it's busy. And for pintxos, being by the bar is really the best place so you can get served quicker; not only that, you also get to see what the most popular pintxos are, and you get to hear the staff explaining what they are. I never quite understand why they don't label their pintxos - wouldn't that save a lot of Q&As? And for those who don't speak Spanish, it would make matters even that much better! I think I must have seen only one or two bars where their pintxos were labelled with at least the name and maybe their principal ingredients.

One note of advice: if you have the time - a lot of these bars/restaurants have websites - go visit them. Check out their offers, their specialities. I didn't, but I speak the lingo, so it's easier.

I regret to say I didn't take any photos nor took any notes, so I can't remember what we had. All I can say is that the pintxos were quite tasty. We could have carried on eating, but we didn't want to be surprised by the bill later! As it happened, 12 pintxos and 3 soft drinks set us back €25.60, quite good value for money around these parts, I'd say. The only thing is, as I'd mentioned before, pintxos are often served cold. The hot ones are sometimes warmed up, as they were done at Inma's. At Charly's, if I remember correctly, all we had were served cold. Still, all in all, stamped RECOMMENDED!

Ribera Market

Continued from Parque de los Patos

So, me, my camera and I set out on weary legs...

Along the banks of River Nervión, I walked again, southwards first and then back up northwards. And, again, I thought, how pretty some of these buildings are. They looked like apartments, but they may be offices, too. If you zoom in on these images, especially the one in the centre, the interior of some of them makes interesting guesswork.

It took me a while to find the name of this bridge, Puente de le Ribera. It's also known by the name of Puente de San Francisco because it connects the old quarters (Casco Viejo) with the district of San Francisco, which I never got to visit. In any case, this district receives a lot of bad publicity - many websites advise you against visiting it, especially after dark.

Puente de le Ribera

If these buildings lie in the district of San Francisco, they don't look bad at all, do they? Perhaps they are more upmarket, or do they belong to those who control the marginal groups living there...? I took more shots of these images because I found them very appealing. To see the rest, visit my Flickr page, the link of which can be found on the left column under "You might also like".

Turning my focus to the right bank, or left, if you're facing the picture above, stands what looks like a glossy new building, in stark contrast to the church (St Anton) behind it. This is, of course, the Ribera Market, completely renovated. This time, I could only admire it from the outside. The following day, I would come back for another visit.

Confusing reflections

Ribera Market and San Anton church

With that, I turned around, eyeing the alleyways of Casco Viejo, and walked back northwards, towards The Guggenheim again. Will I catch the sunset?