Sunday, February 9, 2025
I was invited by our Mariners Team President, Kike Prado Alonso, to join him for lunch at his family's ancestral home in the rural village of Celles.
While it was only a 15 minute drive from my apartment to Celles, I quickly realized that we had entered a completely different world from the hustle and bustle of urban Gijón.
The last five minutes of the drive was on a picturesque, one lane country road with little to no room to maneuver should another vehicle approach.
Kike studied Forestry in college and his father had loved all things botany related, so it came as no surprise that the old family home was a gardener's delight.
Kike proudly showing me
one of his gorgeous camellias
I liked this one better
Colors abounded throughout
their wonderful yards
They even had a cork tree
I found this cactus of interest
Kike proudly showed me around the interior of the home including a fun basement area chock full of stored treasures.
One of Kike's hobbies is painting
toy soldiers, I think that grandson
Jacob would love to see his collection
A view from the family garden
of a neighbor's home
It was time for what would be a sumptuous meal with Kike's mother Tensi, aunt Isabel, family friend Vicky and Kike's co-worker Monica joining us at the table.
The shared crab dip and crab legs were
traditional Asturian seafood fare
The seafood based spread that Isabel made to smear on our bread was incredible too.
As for me, I brought two bottles of wine, one white and one red, that seemed to be a big hit.
All that was left of Monica's main dish,
Pote Asturiano, was this empty pot
As best as I can describe it, Pote Asturiano is basically a hearty vegetable soup that gives off an incredible aroma.
After it was served, Monica added four different cuts of meat including chorizo and morcilla to the dish to make it even more flavorful.
I was offered two bowlfuls of this wonderful dish and gladly accepted.
As always while the cuisine was wonderful, the social interactions around the table for two hours with my four new friends and Kike was even better.
Vicky, Isabel, Tensi, George and Monica
An informative, fun group of ladies that created another great memory for me of my stay in Asturias.
As is the custom in Europe, after one of these big family meals, we all took a post-meal stroll to aid in our collective digestion.
A view of Kike's front yard
Another gorgeous blossom
at the edge of the property
Snow in the nearby mountains
I was told that these mountains are part of a small coastal mountain range, not the famed Picos de Europa which are located at a distance directly behind where I'm standing.
Another neighbor's rural retreat
The Family Home mailbox
The small ceramic sign under the address tiles says:
The madmen rush,
the prudent ones wait,
the wise men go to the garden
I'm guessing that, after seeing the gardens surrounding the family home, Kike's father passed a lot of his wisdom down to his son.
These vines will be blooming
in no time at all
Watch Out for Cows
Kike waving to a neighbor while
walking with his mother, Tensi
Kiké is one of those men that wherever we go, he always runs into people he knows.
Gorgeous vistas
Not cows, but wooly
A frolicking lamb
Such a treat to see this mini-herd
A couple of hours later while driving home in the darkness and the fog that had settled in, our car came to a complete stop as a shepherd had a flock of about 30 of these animals blocking the road.
He was able to move the flock around our stropped vehicle both expertly and quickly, I thought.
I like blue doors
Of course, we were joined by
a couple on horseback
A source of local controversy
This is the 17th centuryPalace of Celles that the Marquesa who owned it let fall into disrepair over the years.
A few years ago she decided to sell the property and the people of tiny Celles were up in arms. Their fear was that she would sell both the palace and its large surrounding lands to a developer who would turn it all into a luxury golf resort.
Such a move would forever change the pastoral ambience of the community to be sure.
The local government eventually bought the palace and its grounds and is working to restore the palace to its former glory before dedicating it as a community based cultural center.
The locals are happy with this scenario.
The palace's small chapel
It was partially destroyed during the Asturias Mine Workers Rebellion of 1934. Its stones were quickly repurposed by the rebels to build a small bridge nearby.
The chapel was never repaired.
The new Celles Cultural Center still
has a long way to go before opening
Our idyllic walk continued
Just as this stroll was designed to do, I could tell that my digestive system was happy to be moving about.
Nice, old mossy tree
The local school building
dating back to 1933
It now functions as a community center for voting, meetings and the like.
When this two story building was a school, the young girls had classes on the ground floor while the boys matriculated on top floor.
The ancient community clothes
washing spot, now just a memory
A babbling brook
. . . and an impressive bull too!
Our walk in the country was
coming to an end as was our day
in the beautiful village of Celles
We headed back to Gijón at about 7:00 p.m. after a great day to get in a much needed nap before Kike would pick me up again 11:00 p.m. for the Mariners Super Bowl LIX viewing party at the Carlin Goal !!! Sports Bar on the ground floor of the Stadio Molinón-Enrique Castro Quini.
In these parts we celebrate Super Bowl Monday as the game's kickoff was scheduled for 12:30 a.m. on Monday morning.
I was asked all week by teammates who I thought would win. My answer, not having followed the two teams too much during the season, was the Philadelphia Eagles.
My reasoning was simple, the Kansas City Chiefs had won the last two Super Bowls and no team had ever won three consecutive Super Bowls.
I opted to ride that streak, we'll see how it turns out tomorrow morning.
WHAT A GREAT DAY
IN ASTURIAS!
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