Day 8: Covadonga Capers

When Brooklyn and I first started planning our Spain itinerary, she mentioned that she wanted to visit Covadonga. While I knew absolutely nothing about the place, it turned out to be the most wonderful starting point fo an incredible few days in the Asturias. 

The drive from the beaches of the southeast to the mountains of the northwest was long (9 hours), but absolutely worth it. Our first destination was the Basilica of Covadonga. According to Google, Covadonga is famous for a 722 battle in which the Christians first conquered the Moors, marking the beginning of the Reconquista. If like me, you are completely ignorant, Nuslim rulers seized control of the Iberian peninsula in 711, but it took 700 years for the Spanish and Portuguese to reclaim the region. The history is certainly thorny and complicated, but the region is gorgeous. 

The basilica itself was under construction from 1877-1901.

Covadonga is also known for "La Santa Cueva" or Holy Cave.

Directly below is a waterfall and fountain.

I thought that the water might be revered for its healing properties because of its proximity to the sanctuary, but Wikipedia just told me legend states that any young maiden who drinks from the fountain will be married within a year. Considering I brought three of my daughters there, I'm feeling kind of nervous now!

The water must be pretty remarkable because they even sell a flavored version from the vending machnes!

Covadonga is located right within Picos de Europa, Spain's oldest national park. Driving up the mountain side, we were so impressed by the beauty that we pulled over on the side of the road to play.

The sight brought out our inner yogi.

Well, at least for most of us. Jason just wanted to jump for joy.

Teaching the rest of us. It took Brooklyn a little longer to get the timing right, but she got there.

I can't even tell me how happy these pictures make me feel! What a remarkable moment. I tell you, it might have been worth all of the time and expense to get to Spain just to experience this.

As for Annika, she was too busy exploring the landscape to join our crazy capers.

Our destination? The Covadonga lakes. They were beautiful!

Also, we LOVED all of the cows with the sound of cowbells echoing across the mountain pastures.

The hike up to the crest was pretty steep, but Annika led the charge. Every day I feel so grateful for all that her beautiful shared heart lets her do.

Still, she was pretty tired when she got to the top.

Not Eli! This kid is a running machine.

From the top you could peer down to a lake on either side.

Even better, there were all sorts of cows waiting for us.

A few of us were lucky enough to get one to eat out of our hand.

Yay Talia!

Happy parents.

Flowers in her hair. Some day Eli is going to make some girl very happy.

Beautiful braid, Brooklyn! 

Talia's turn.

Misty rays as we drive down the mountain.

It was starting to get dark as we pulled up to our AirBnb in the tiny mountain village. Getting to the parking space up from these teeny tiny village roads was a bit of an adventure, but absolutely worth it.  Country charm coupled with majestic mountains--I'm still enamored. Can't wait to come back!

Day 7: Tossa de Mar

And on the seventh day, Jason rested.

Just kidding. On the seventh day, Jason needed a good chunk of time to work without interruption. So the kids and I played instead. Here's breakfast in our bungalow--yum! Making my tummy growl. 

We did some much needed laundry and swam for a bit in the pool. There was a large school group there and I could tell Annika wanted to play, but the language barrier made it hard so we didn't stay long.

Instead, we walked across the main road to the beach.

Perfect choice! There are pools everywhere, but for us landlocked citizens, it can be hard to get to an ocean.

Brrrr! The Mediterranean was chilly. But hey, we got in and swam anyway--even me.

Playing in the sand. I have such fun memories of Brooklyn and Talia being buried in the sand here years ago.

Dang it, these kids all grew up too fast.

Camping del Mar, who knows? Maybe in another twenty years we'll be back again.

Later in the day we decided to take a day trip to nearby Tossa de Mar. But first, we had to pick up lunch at Brooklyn's very favorite supermarket, Mercadona. It. was awesome! You'd be hard-pressed to find this much Jamón ibérico in the states.

I'm not gonna lie--parking was a bit of a struggle. While there was plenty of paid parking available, we couldn't get the parking app to work, probably because we were in a rental car. We found free street parking a little farther away, but it was kind of tight and on a steep hill. I was actually doing a pretty good job parallel parking until the very last bit when the car shifted into neutral instead of drive. I slammed on the brake and managed to stop with literally less than an inch to spare (see photo evidence.) Gotta say, this didn't do a lot to boost my confidence driving a rental! I had all the kids get out and shove the car forward as I pulled into drive so that it wouldn't roll back any as I scooted it farther up the hill. In the end it worked out, but definitely gave me some gray hair!

In the end, the Gran Platja was stunning and the stress was worth it. Plus, I gotta admit, the winding drive along the shore to get to Tossa was pretty fabulous as well.

Annika's keloid scarring is pretty prominent, but I find the scars to be beautiful. Strength and courage and love etched forever.

After a while, we took turns exploring the castle on the hill. (Annika wanted to stay and continue her search for underwater sea creatures.) I liked it so much that I hiked up to the old town twice.

Thanks to Talia for these photos, as my phone ran out of battery.

Yeah, I could live here.

As evening fell, we made our way back to Malgrat to reunite with Jason and take showers. And hey, after a day swimming in the ocean, our mermaids discovered that a dinglehopper really is great for hair! Travel is full of beautiful surprises.