Friday, March 21, 2025
If you didn't know, the city of Gijón has a series of seven culturally based museums which are always free for public viewing. Today we visited one of them.
During my now 73 day stay in Asturias I have been able to visit six of these fascinating museums. I thought that Laurie would enjoy this excursion and she did to my delight.
The Museum of the Asturian People
It was founded in 1968 and is located on banks of the Rio Piles near the Mariners home field, the Hipódromo Las Mestas.
Laurie with a traditionally
dressed Asturian couple
I got into ancient cart wheels today
To be 100% clear, I did not do any cart wheels today.
Ben-Hur Chariot?
Metal reinforced wheels were the norm
A crude but effective plow
We thought that this was a yoke
used for a beast to turn a gristmill
Not all cart wheels . . .
. . . were created equal
We could see how those metal edges were a definite upgrade.
From the farming exhibits, we moved into an exhibit hall that had just opened today that displayed women's clothing from about 100 years ago.
Sunday Finest
Lots of colorful vests,
Laurie's included
A sharp dressed family
Isn't she the hot patootie!
Lace that up tighter por favor
Perfect material for your
next Rose Bowl game dress
Bright cloth
Somewhat intricate stitching
Much more intricate stitching
We moved on to the next exhibit hall that was dedicated to bagpipes in general and the Spanish version known as a Gaita in particular.
There were also all sorts of other Asturian music instruments on display.
A colorful bagpipe
Black goes with everything
A goatskin bagpipe
Disturbing to hear bagpipe
music coming out of this one
Not a bagpipe
Different regions came up
with different designs
We loved this kid!
This one reminded me of the one
we had in our home in California
Accordions are a big part of the
traditional Asturian music scene
My Abuela, who was born and
raised in Asturias, was a
virtuoso on the castanets
Abuela's castanets were much
smaller than these . . .
. . . her's were about the size of
the ones third from the right on
the bottom row
A small organ
A Hurdy-Gurdy
Passing on the musical culture
to the next generation
A face that despite the wear and tear
can still play this hand made flute
Animal bones turned into wind instruments
Nice, old clarinet storage case
After spending time inside these last two exhibit halls, we progressed back to the open air parts of the museum.
A weird looking plant
The stable of a small farm house
The farm house's master bedroom
An ornate Asturian Hórreo
that is used for grain storage
Wheels for the . . .
. . . gristmill
Sidra storage barrels
This apple press used in making
Asturias' drink of choice, Sidra
How old are these traditionally
green Sidra bottles?
Not sure of the use of this Sidra
making instrument but it was HUGE!
We ended our visit by going through the museum's four story main building that is dedicated to the daily life in the typical Asturian homes of the period from 1800 to 1960.
Religion was a big part of
the Asturian lifestyle
These Spanish figa charms were
worn to fight off the demonic threat
of "The Evil Eye!"
One of science's finest discoveries.
More religious objects
Now, THAT'S a drinking cup!
A well constructed basket
There were many examples . . .
. . . of quite . . .
. . . intricate . . .
. . . woodworking on display
Primitive snow shoes is my guess
Much more comfortable . . .
. . . looking lightweight shoes
Smoking cap and slippers from 1890
A closer look at that cool looking
smoking cap. I liked it!
We spent about two hours at this fine museum that we both enjoyed immensely.
It was now mid-afternoon and we were both rather hungry.
Earlier, we had spotted a sidrería near the museum that offered an attractive menú special today consisting of grilled meats.
We decided to return to this sidrería
for what we thought to be a light lunch
Our Menú options
Or so we thought.
Laurie and I each picked one of the grilled meat options to order.
When the waiter came to take our order, I relayed our two meat choices to him.
He replied, "No, if you order the Parrilleró Menú, we bring you cuts of ALL of the meats that are listed."
Thus we were served this HUGE
plate of sizzling animal flesh
The Parrilleró Menú also included a large bowl of a lettuce, tomato and onion salad, a bottle of red wine, a large bottle of water, bread and dessert.
We would spend the rest of the day in a deep Food Coma.
Thankfully, there was no practice scheduled for this evening.
Gijón proudly proclaiming itself
"An Excellent Tourist Municipality"
A gorgeous, random outer doorway
It was another good day for the two of us in the Principality of Asturias.
Not much today from the net . . .
I did not know this
Now we prepare for the travel to
Zaragoza for this weekend's game
We will leave for Zaragoza by bus at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday with a scheduled arrival time at our hotel in the capital city of the Province of Aragon at about 8:00 p.m.
Our game is set to kickoff at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday and we should get back to Gijón at about 11:00 p.m. that evening.
The weather prediction on Sunday at Kickoff calls for an 85% chance of rain and chilly temperatures of 6°C/43°F.
In other words, a BEAUTIFUL day for American football!
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