Coaching for Pizza: Wanderlust Wednesday III: Ribadesella

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

After a week spent mostly in the apartment working on Mariners football interests, on a ten hour round trip bus ride to Madrid for a game and in the midst of some turbulent weather, I definitely needed a good Wanderlust Wednesday more than ever today.

I wanted to continue using Wednesday as my one dedicated day of the week to explore. The previous two Wednesdays had seen me invade first Oviedo and then Villaviciosa.

The question was, where to today?

I walked to the bus station to start the day's Adventure.

I wonder how unions in America will fare

under the new Republican Administration

Colorful buildings are a staple

of Gijón's architecture

Memories of calling Bingo numbers

during both Westlake H.S. and

Rio Mesa H.S. fund raising efforts

Bingo turned out to be a lucrative way to support both school's athletic programs.

Garvi is a shoe store with this

classic visual above their door

Home for Mothers and Babies

When I finally arrived at the bus station, I was able to purchase my round trip ticket to today's sea side resort city of Ribadesella, for only 13.60 Euros.

The initial drive was scheduled to leave at 10:15 a.m. and arrive in Ribadesella at noon.

I had some time to kill, and wouldn't you know it, my favorite spot in Gijón for churros y chocolate was only a few blocks away.

How fortuitous

I depleted that pile of churros just a bit and the chocolate was, as always, excellent!

AHA!

I've been wondering how to get to the airport without asking any of the Mariners to go out of their way to help me or by taking the expensive taxi ride which the internet says can cost me 100 to 130 Euros each way.

This bus costs only 3 to 5 Euros depending on the time of day and one leaves the Gijón bus terminal every 30 minutes.

A much better deal indeed!

The morning's drive again offered beautiful vistas of the verdant countryside and the rugged coastline of Asturias.

I halfheartedly tried taking a few photos as the bus was moving and actually got a couple that were decent.

Verdant Countryside

Rugged Coastline

The weather was wet and windy but was scheduled to abate at about 2:00 p.m.

As I arrived, about ten minutes earlier than the scheduled noon landing, I found overcast skies and the start of some light drizzle as I stepped off the bus.

I had a plan but I needed a map of the city to implement it.

The search for the never in the bus station Tourist Information Center began.

On a police car,

a Fascist symbol still abounds

I found this beautiful hotel

dating from 1912

The city's recycling bins are

works of art

Lots of good things to eat were

inside, but no maps of the city

Ribadesella is a REAL city!

Grandson Jacob famously says that if there is no McDonald's, there is no city.

I feel the same but about a chocolate emporium instead of a McDonald's.

Tribute to a Local Hero

The Ribadesella Ayuntamiento

dates from the 16th-century

Certainly someone at the City Hall could help me.

No, they did not have a map. But a nice lady directed me to the temporary Tourist Information Center. It turns out that the permanent center is being refurbished, this would become a common theme today.

Slit window at the Ayuntamiento

As always, the Camino de Santiago's

Northern Route runs through this

pleasant coastal city

After following the lady's directions to the letter, I found no Tourist Information Center, temporary or otherwise.

I did find a city with more

colorful Spanish architecture

I liked the name but it was closed

Unfortunately, the clouds were opening quickly, dumping large amounts of rain aided by ever strengthening winds to make walking about difficult.

But not impossible

Yet.

Iglesia de Santa María Magdalena

is only 101 years old

I claimed my Right of Sanctuary as I entered, yearning for a dry, warm space for a few moments.

The church had nice carvings . . .

. . . a blue copula . . .

. . . and a bright stained glass

window worth studying

While enjoying the warmth, I revisited my original plan.

I had wanted to go to Ribadesella's famed Cueva de Tito Bustillo that is a series of interconnected caves with beautiful prehistoric paintings dating from the Paleolithic Era dating to at least 30,00 years ago at the earliest.

To protect these ancient depictions in red and black of stags and horses, only 15 visitors per guided tour are allowed to enter the caves at a time.

There is also a Visitor's Center near the caves with excellent re-creations of the paintings for safe viewing by larger groups.

The idea was to be inside the caves and Visitor's Center during my first two hours in town until the weather cleared.

It was a solid plan but it had major flaws as it turned out.

The search for a city map continued.

Cool Post Office letter slot

"The Butt Breaker"

They must serve some potent sidra I'm guessing.

The weather was getting worse

by the minute

The wind was really whipping by now and as I was looking around, I realized that I was surrounded by trees.

Trees that could easily topple under the force of this strengthening gale.

I walked back into the historic city center to find buildings that gladly sheltered me from direct wind flow.

When I needed to turn a corner, I entered a natural wind tunnel. I felt my body leaning way forward to avoid being blown over on my posterior.

I needed to find someplace indoors again, STAT!

A brave sausage monger was

still manning his outdoor stand

I finally found an open restaurant and sat down for one of their lunch specials called a menu in Spain.

I was informed that their menu would not start being served for another half hour.

I had a café con leche and a pincho of tortilla de patarta instead to tide me over.

What I had figured out by now was that this quaint resort town is mostly closed down during the non-vacation month of January.

I would estimate that 50% of the stores and 75% of the restaurants and bars were closed today due to the lack of tourists this time of the year.

I found out that the caves that I wanted to see were located on the other side of the Río Sella that divides the city in half. To get there would require a long walk across the bridge that spans the river.

The rain was letting up a bit, so decided to explore a bit more before going to the caves.

A nice plaza

Gingerbread Houses

Shoppers admiring the sweets for sale

Shoe repairman and a key maker

Color amid the stones

Nice carvings including the

European form of number seven

More color, more stones

Traditional Asturian wooden shoes

The vegetation is a nice touch

Same idea but in need of new plants

Escalera de Colores

These blue house tiles

definitely caught my eye

Apparently a proud contestant

in a horticultural contest

Mystery at the end of this

short tunnel on a . . .

. . . "Dark Street"

In case you are wondering which

cheeses are made from which

animals milk, here you go

Finally, I found the closed

Tourist Information Center

It had reproductions of the paintings

that I craved to see

But still no map.

The rain and wind were still an issue

so I crossed the river via taxi

At times, one must pamper oneself.

This was one of those times.

I arrived at the Cuevas de Tito Bustillo

Visitor's Center to find it CLOSED!

As was the case all over the town, they were closed for refurbishing during the off-season.

They will open full-time again this coming Saturday.

Wonderful.

The one nice thing is that the wind and rain were both dying down rather quickly.

I walked back to town.

The caves are inside this huge rock

An entrance

Interesting stripes

A happy, helpful lady that works in the actual cave portion of this exhibit informed me that while, yes, the Visitor's Center opens this coming Saturday, the actual caves themselves would not host any visitors until March 5th.

I'll bring Laurie here to view the caves and spend the night as she will be with me by then.

View of the historic center

across the Río Sella

A better view of the same city core

Hórreo Asturiano

These farm buildings can be seen all over the northern part of Spain and are used to store grain.

The storage area is raised high off of the ground to avoid any problems with rodent infestations and possible flooding.

Near the bridge leading across the

Río Sella to the city of Ribadesella

That man again and his

famous caves

Whoa, some damaged boats

as I stepped onto the bridge

Some more

This wasn't from today's short storm

Was it?

The harbor looked calm . . .

. . . as the Sun started to shine

I explored a bit more as I had a decision to make.

My plan had called for a return bus ride at 4:00 p.m. but with so many potential highlights to this charming village closed, I saw no reason to stay that long.

I decided to take the 2:00 p.m. bus instead but I still had a little time to roam before my imminent departure.