When I moved to Spain I set myself a challenge. That challenge was to visit every single communidad autonóma during my year here, and surprisingly, I’ve nearly managed it!
This week is Semana Santa in Spain, so I made the most of having a week off work and have ticked another three regions off my little list. Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria – tick, tick, tick.
Three of my lovely friends from Zaragoza and I set off on Friday on our little northern Spanish adventure. Kind of like El camino de Santiago but in reverse, and certainly not by foot!
First stop was Santiago de Compostela, which was a very surreal experience as we’d flown through the night from Madrid so had had very little sleep and were in a bit of a sleepy daze. Despite our slumber, we could appreciate the beauty of this incredibly spiritual city and spent a few hours wandering around the winding streets and discovering the very impressive cathedral. I do feel that you’d appreciate this city far more if you’d walked 500 miles just to see it (ba da ba ba!)
After only a few hours in Santiago, we hopped on a train to A Coruña, another beautiful Galician city. Now, I know I say this a lot, but I’ve really fallen in love with this coastal city. I’ve found yet another jewel in Spain’s evergrowing crown!
Growing up in a coastal Welsh town, any glimpse of the sea sends me into slight hysterics.. Safe to say, seeing the amazingly choppy ocean in A Coruña made me very happy indeed, and I was a little sad that it was just that bit too cold to dive straight in.
The next few days were spent in the best way possible – relaxing by the seaside and exploring the beautiful Galician coastline. Pure bliss! We stayed in a charming little hostel right in the centre of the excitement – cute tapas and wine bars everywhere. The old town in A Coruña is also definitely worth checking out as it really was beautiful.
You can’t go to A Coruña and not visit Hercules Tower, which is the oldest roman lighthouse in the world. Offering spectaclar views, it’s 100% worth getting almost blown away by the incredibly strong winds. Although, we were very lucky to have gorgeous weather during our whole stay as A Coruña is renowned as being the rainiest city in Spain!
Just underneath Hercules Tower is a massive monument on which I was very shocked to find a little homage to my roots! You can’t really see very well in the photo, but I’m posing next to a big dragon and the Welsh word for Wales, Cymru! It was so weird to find that little bit of home in somewhere so far away.
Next stop on our Tour of the North was Oviedo, which is the biggest city in Asturias. We had a wonderful tour guide for the day as my brilliant friend Sophie is studying there this year. It was so nice to be reunited and to have a little catch up, as two of my travel companions Livi and Susanna are also in Exeter Uni with me, so it was great to all be there together. It’s definitely made me eager to get back to Exeter this September (once I’ve got over the fact that I’m going to have to leave Spain soon!).
Sophie took us through the beautiful old town of Spain’s cleanest city, showing us the best restaurants and sidrerías that Oviedo has to offer. One thing that I love about Asturias is that when you buy a drink in a bar, more often than not, you’re given a small tapas to nibble on (although I couldn’t actually eat the small pizzas/ empanadas/ pastries most of the time!)
Oviedo was a bit of a whirlwind stop, but even in a short space of time I really felt like I got the true feel of the city, and again it’s a city I could see myself living in if I ever moved back to Spain.
It wasn’t until midnight that night that we arrived in the coastal town of Gijón, and were greeted with free cider in our hostel room! The absolute dream! (As Livi would say!) Again, I’d really recommend this hostel if you ever find yourself in this neck of the woods as the owners were so lovely and welcoming, which often changes your opinion of the city so much.
Tuesday was spent wandering around the beaches and basking in the glorious sun. The contrast of the blue sea and the bright green grass was so beautiful after being in the drier part of Spain for so long.
Whilst booking our trip, Livi and Chelsey had been sorting out our route and had discovered that our original plan to head for the mountains wasn’t that easy and randomly said ‘oh we can’t go there, buuuuut I think I can get you to a place called Llanes’. Once they had researched Llanes they actually realised it was pretty beautiful and undiscovered, so booked us in. As a little bit of a treat, we stayed in a lovely hotel in the tiny seaside resort for a few days and had the most relaxing time.
We picnicked overlooking the sea and hiked around the spectacular Asturian coastline. Although it didn’t rain, the sun wasn’t shining quite as brightly as the other days, but with scenery like that, it doesn’t really matter!
We spent the evenings sipping cider and eating rice pudding, which is a bit of an Asturian delicacy! As it’s also Semana Santa, we saw an amazing parade through the streets of Llanes, and accidentally joined in on the parade and only realised when it had nearly finished that we were the only ones talking! Oops!
If anyone is ever after a gorgeous town to escape to in Northern Spain, I’d massively recommend Llanes. From the charming port, spectacular scenery and delicious food, it has it all. It was also a very welcome change from all the city breaks, a girls’s gotta relax every now and then!
We finished off our Northern Tour in the city of Santander, in Cantabria. Most famously known for being the birthplace of the bank, Santander is a lovely city which I only wish we’d had more time to explore. I’ll definitely come back to explore the city more. With its ferry links to Britain, it’s a city I’d definitely recommend for a short stay.
We ended our week’s Tour of the North with another Semana Santa parade, which was so impressive and such an incredible thing to see – definitely something to put on your Spain Bucket list!
Like I’ve said before, every place I visit in Spain makes me fall in love with this amazing country even more! Such a great week with three amazing girls – such a perfect way to spend my Easter break. (Although due to technical difficulties with my camera, I’ve nabbed all of Livi’s photos – thanks chica!)
the treasured notebook 
What a brilliant goal – to visit every Comunidad Autonoma! I still need to get to Murcia, Asturias, Galicia, La Rioja, Navarra & Extremadura (unless a stop at Caceres bus station counts?). Time to get cracking! On another note, I definitely recommend Andalucia (small towns are less crowded) for Semana Santa processions.
I’m almost there! Visiting Castilla La Mancha this weekend and then I’ll only have Castille Leon and Extremadura left (although I leave Spain this month so maybe I won’t get to do them all – but very close!) I definitely want to come back to explore Andalucía a bit more, maybe next Easter!