Friday, January 10, 2024
I got a bit of a late start today but I made the most of it as I explored more interesting sights in my new hometown.
The Spanish city of Gijón, or Xixón in the dialect of Asturias, was founded in the 5th-century B.C. and was christened Noega at that time.
Gijón sits on the coast of the Cantabrian Sea in the Bay of Biscay. It is both the largest city in the Province of Asturias and the most populated city in Spain's northern coastal region. Additionally, its 269,300 inhabitants make Gijón the 15th largest city in Spain.
It is a city with a rich maritime history, thus our team's Mariners nickname.
At the end of the 19th-century, the city became an industrial center heavily involved in steel and naval industries. In recent year's as those industries declined, Gijón has become more of a tourist mecca, a university town, a hub of commerce and a research and development center.
It was time to set off on today's Adventure.
I live on this street whose name
just rolls off my tongue
These two stand on guard
in the foyer of our mini-two
unit apartment complex
A higher quality of breakfast today at
the Van Gogh Café a few blocks away
Apparently, not everyone is happy
about the recent tourism boom
Old meets new
I walked into a church,
Iglesia de San José
Nice altar area
He is BIG in these parts
Iglesia de San José is impressive
Another view of the same church
If you need a shiv, I know a place
My life is more complete now
Nice fountain on a busy street
This is like the McDonald's of
the Spanish tapas scene
I'm not against that.
"The Girl of My Eyes"
The soulful eyes of an
olive oil saleswoman
Old and most beautiful
I may have to hit this spot
Saturday night after the game
A colorful side street
Another interesting spot offering
some different foods so I am told
A traditional Asturian bagpipe player
There are definite Celtic roots in Spain's northern coast.
Yes, but no
I'll stick with the local cuisine while I'm here.
Tiles are big on Spanish
commercial buildings
Found at a gift store
This school building is 11.9 meters
above the sea level in Alicante, Spain
Not sure why, but everywhere I go in Spain, they always refer to the sea level in Alicante on Spain's east coast on the Mediterranean Sea when talking about elevation.
King Pelayo I'm guessing
This is Gijón's Concert Theater
It is named after Gijón's favorite son, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos. We'll meet him in just a second.
The main Gijón Post Office
This Post Office actually has
four of these lion head letter drops
Be careful not to get your hand bitten off when inserting a postcard into one of their mouths.
There is one lion for mail going to a Gijón address and a second if you are mailing something within the Province of Asturias.
The one on the left in this photo is for mailing things to Spanish addresses outside of Asturias and the one on the right is for international posts.
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
1744 - 1811
He was born in Gijón and became a statesman, author, philosopher and a major figure of the Enlightenment in Spain.
Mercado del Sur
This is the city's old, traditional market. It is smaller than others we have frequented in Spain but it still had lots to offer.
Good meats
Interesting fish
Fresh mushrooms
Beautiful grapes
Moldy looking cheeses rich
with flavor I suspect
Spices are a MUST!
Are you looking at me?
I opted for some dried chorizo and wonderfully fresh bread only on this first visit.
The all seeing eye
"La Gota de Leche" building
This building opened in 1925 as the Childcare Institute.
It got its nickname, La Gota de Leche or Drop of Milk, as the first service it offered was the free distribution of milk to children in need. Over the years it provided maternity care, day care and training for midwives, doctors, nurses and nursery school teachers
It currently is offers several basic civil services to the people of Gijón.
It was definitely a
House of Children
Left Wing sentiments still run
deep in Asturias
After getting back home and fixing something for lunch, I decided to cross the street to visit . . .
. . . The Train Museum of Asturias
Entry was free today which made this decision even easier.
The tile plaque that once adorned
this station before it became a museum
The displays were well organized
Of course there were lots of old engines
Some were strange
The elevation of the museum is
a bit lower than at the school
that I saw earlier
Short and stocky . . .
. . . it was 115 years old
A beautiful wooden car
This one moved the mail around
Spain for many years I presume
Rusty spare parts
An old Gijón city tram
There are no trams in use in Gijón anymore.
Renfe is Spain's biggest rail line
A proud old train route
Various lamps used on the rails
Cool badges
Used by station chiefs back in the day
Motormen symbol
Various oil cans
Buy your tickets here
I think that they called these things . . .
telephones
Switchboard operator's tools
View to the train yard
Yet another sharp looking
wooden car
All in all, it was well organized and had excellent display cases, I liked it!
At 9:00 p.m. our Mariners held a one hour walk-through in the rain. It was not as sharp for me mentally as last night's excellent practice.
Speaking of the Mariners, here is a photo from yesterday's press conference.
.png)
The Four Imports
L. to R.: Taye Courtney, DL/OL, Southern Oregon
University, Spencer Moore, QB, Ohio State University, George Contreras, Defensive Coordinator and James Douglas, DB/WR, Livingstone College
Two of our games will be part of
the LNFA's national broadcasts
Tomorrow's game kicks off at 6:00 a.m. Pacific time and can be seen by clicking on the following link:
I hope that you can watch part of our game tomorrow,
GO MARINERS!
No comments:
Post a Comment