Dinner was FABULOUS!

Hola!

Just back from a fabulous dinner here at the hotel – and as Robert just announced, it’s 5 minutes to 11 PM – and we JUST got back to our room!  To summarize:  The dining room opened at 8:30 pm and we were there around 8:31 or 32, and of course, we were the first people there.  A second party came about 9 pm, about eight people including two small children. Aren’t they supposed to be in bed now? Also, at 10 pm, six more people came in to have dinner.  Truly incredible, and I don’t mean that in a good way.  Fortunately for us, we don’t have to be anywhere anytime tomorrow.  We only have about an hour and a half to drive to Gijon, where we’ll be for the next three nights, so we can definitely take it easy.

Lovely hotel dining room!

Me with wine glass!

Mussel in vinaigrette

Iberian ham croquettes

Incredible scallops!

Steak with potatoes and grapes

R with his dessert wine

We actually shared this steamed chocolate cake

Lovely countryside this morning on our drive

Including a great bridge!

Lots of mountains and clouds!

That's out bathtub!

Park downtown by the water

St. Pedro church

The Romans did make it here!

Along waterfront

Looks a bit chilly to me for a dip!

We started with a large bottle of sparkling water, along with a bottle of Spanish Tempranillo, which was, to put it mildly, fabulous. For starters, I ordered the ham croquettes, and Rordered the scallops.  We figured we could split those.  Turns out though, that the appetizers were actually meant to be split, so we could have only ordered one … but that wouldn’t have been any fun at all!

Bread came first, along with wonderful Spanish butter as well as a small bowl of kosher or sea salt. Yum!  After that came our amuse-bouche – a mussel in vinaigrette; truly amazing.

The ham and cheese croquettes arrived first, and were great.  We actually managed to eat all of them, although R was feeling a bit full.  Then came the scallops – still attached in their shells, with garlic butter. Oh my … they were incredible, and all eight of them managed to disappear.

Then came our main courses – we ordered the same thing:  Galacian beef sirloin steaks (rare) with boiled potatoes and grapes in a port wine reduction.  The steaks were perfectly cooked, and the potatoes were amazing.  I know I keep using a lot of adjectives here, but I can’t help it!  Let us just say that both of our plates were perfectly clean.

For dessert, R ordered a Tawny Port, but the waiter suggested instead a Galacian (from this area) dessert wine (a local Moscato) – it was like hummingbird food; nectar.  In fact, we both ended up with glasses of it.  I also ordered the steamed chocolate cake with a citrus sorbet. Neither of us had ever had chocolate so light and airy before.  Everything disappeared, and we were done.

So … a truly incredible meal; hope the photos do justice, and I will post this in the morning!

So … goodnight for now! It’s WAY past my bedtime!

Much love,

m

xxx

Hola!  As it turns out, I didn’t get a chance to post last night’s dinner this morning, so I am incorporating that into today’s blog. So!  To proceed!

I had three things that I wanted to have accomplished to call today a successful day – one was the move from our lovely A Quinta Relais & Chateaux hotel to the city I simply cannot pronounce.  It is spelled Gijon and I do not have the wherewithal to pronounce it properly – there is a lot of pflem involved.  So, while I hope no one takes exception to it, I have taken to calling it “Hee-Haw” or, in a pinch, “Hee-Hon.”  Whatever… The second thing we actually got accomplished yesterday, by doing all the laundry.  It feels SO good to be all clean.*  Then, the third thing was to send off a box with books and maps and “stuff” so that we would be able to bring our well-traveled sherry home with us.  

So, first things first. We were up around 7:30 am this morning, and down for breakfast about 8:30 am.  We had the lovely breakfast room to ourselves, and an excellent breakfast. Then, down to check out around 9:30 am and finally, on the road a bit before 10 am.  Our plan was to take the coast road from Compostelato Gijon, and it was indeed a lovely drive.  We made it here to the hotel – Silken Ciudad Gijon, in about 3½ hours, arriving about 1:30 pm.  Fortunately, our room was ready, and we were able to park the car in the underground car park, and then come straight to our room – 507. Well!  A fabulous room!  Truly, it’s hilarious!  We have a bathtub that would easily accommodate 6 or more people (and we don’t even know that many in Gijon!), and the room wraps around one end of the building, giving us a lovely view of the sea and the city.  Lots and lots of room for everything, and the first thing we wanted to do was organize for shipping an If-It-Fits-It-Ships box from Spain. Besides our old atlas went our Portugal and Madrid tour books, as well as our detailed map of Portugal.  We included some dish towels I had purchased in Porto, as well as R’s good black shoes (which he wore last night for the first time on our trip!) and socks.  Also lots of little odds and ends.  Robert found a nearby post office that was open, and with the help of the GPS Emmy, we were there in no time at all.  Fortunately for us, we found a lovely lady who, while not speaking English, was able to figure out what we wanted to do and helped us!  So, as I couldn’t find a parking place, and had to keep orbiting, Robert with the assistance of some of the other customers who had smatterings of English, was able to get our box constructed, filled, inventoried (we had done that before we got there!) and forms filled out and box mailed!  48€but if it helps us get the Sherry back in sealed bottle form, it was well worth it! Also, it’s so much easier schlepping the luggage now, for sure!  

From there, we decided some late lunch was called for, so found a McDonald’s as part of a huge Carrefour shopping center and enjoyed Big Mac’s. As I told Robert, it was from the sublime (last night’s dinner) to the ridiculous (today’s lunch)!  

We then decided to see a bit of Gijon before returning to the hotel, but found what I really wanted to see the most – the Roman baths – closed! In fact, everything seems to be closed – except for McDonald’s and the post office!  At any rate, we walked around the seafront, and enjoyed the views, and it’s now a bit past five and we are back to the hotel.  Not sure if we’re in for the night or not, but it seems that there should be plenty of restaurants around from which to choose, should that appeal to us.

So, with that note, I will close and get this (finally) posted!

Lots of love,

m

xxx

*A note about laundry. Just for reference, this hotel charges 4.25€ to wash a pair of socks, 4.85€ for underwear and 9.35€ for a polo shirt.  In contrast, our laundry yesterday cost about 9€, total.  So that is why we go to laundromats. -- RJB