Sunday was a very beautiful day so they decided to drive through the hills and valleys to get to the cider house, which was up somewhere near San Sebastian in the same area as the 1st one, Astigarraga. Therefore, rather than charging along the highway, we went inland from Azpeitia instead of towards the coastand through Tolosa, one of the towns I went through on the way to the convent with Miren and Nerea. Gosh, that seems like a long time ago, now.
here's a couple of photos of the countryside. I can't imagine ever being tired of looking at this kind of view.
happy people
the ground is covered, almost but not entirely, with white rocks and boulders.
It is early spring here and it was certainly a fabulous time to be in the country - blossoms, flowers, lambs, new green leaves on the trees, and sunshine. I have lived in the center of Auckland, surrounded by concrete and tar, traffic and noise for sooooo long that to be so close to the countryside in early spring, when the the earth is waking up, is simply amazing. Every day, as I walk about Azpeitia I can see this happening and this morning, in Azkoitia, (every 2nd Wednesday I teach there) sheep and lambs were just outside the window of the 1st class room I was in. I could have put my hand out of the window and touched them.
Barry getting the hang of collecting cider in his glass
he did manage to get off side with one lady by coming in to get cider in front of her, i.e. just as the cider was about to hit her glass, there is a glass in front of hers! I explained to him, feeling like a seasoned player, that the same rules apply here as in trout fishing in the Tongariro - you have to make sure that you come in at the end of the line! No, not the fishing line but the line of trout fishing people.
then it was getting into the steak.
The menu was the traditional one except that Jaione and Kepa changed the bacalao to a fish called 'merluza' which is apparently 'hake' in England but I actually have no idea. This fish came to the table on a plate, whole. Well, half of it but sliced through the length of the fish from head to tail, rather than across the center from side to side. We got both eyes and a whole heap of delicious fish meat/ flesh, whatever the correct word is as well as the head and tail.
It was a big fish, moist and tasty. But no photo - what was I thinking - not thinking,obviously. I've had a quick look on the internet but there's nothing there like what we ate.
We had plenty of cider to go with plenty of food
We came back along the coast and stopped off at a town called Orio. Us at the beach
And then it was home to Azpeitia, say goodbye to Jaione and Kepa, and thanks to you both for your generosity and kindness for a fabulous day. Then we both lay down on the couches in our apartment for a few hours totally full of delicious food and cider.
And the weather continues to be superb.
Almost forgot - I was interviewed for the Azpeitia monthly magazine a couple of weeks ago and last Thursday it hit the streets with the interview and 3 photos of me in. Talk about 'world famous in Azpeita'. More people now say hello, well no, they don't actually say 'hello", but kaixo (hello in Basque) and sometimes "hola" but never "hello" although Miren now calls out "kia ora" when I go into the bar. Have to say thatnI don't like 2 out of the 3 photos and didn't understand any of the writing because it's all in Basque. Students in one of the classes translated it for me today so I now no pretty much what is written and it's mostly what I said.
Now, I can tell you about our travel plans - 23 days holiday and finally we've decided where we're going. Rome, Naples, Venice, Prague, maybe Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, maybe Switzerland and then back to Azpeitia for my final month of school.
We'll be in Rome at 9am Friday morning and will have 4 days there. We googled the top 20 things to do in Rome and out of the 20, 13 were churches of some description which narrowed down our list rather drastically. Then we train down to Naples to see Pompeii and hopefully a walk part of the way along the Amalfi Coast or maybe we'll bus. A few people suggested we go to the Cinque Terra which is The 5 Villages coast walk up past Florence on the coast past towards Genoa. After reading that it tends to rain a lot up there in April turning the narrow, little streets into rivers which are then closed, effectively rendering the walk impossible we decided to give this a miss.
However, while we were looking at this information we read about the Amalfi Coast. Seems that this is as good as the Cinque Terre and not prone to lots of rain and flooding. We'll see how we go. The more I read and look at the harder it gets to choose what NOT to do
I WANT TO GO EVERYWHERE AND DO EVERYTHING WHAAAAAAAAAAAAH
We've booked a room for one night in Naples, same place where Wayne stayed, (should we tell them this?) and after that everything's open to change until the 23rd when have to be in Amsterdam to meet Emma and Sam for 5 days of fun times (Thomas, where are youuuuuuuu?).
After Amsterdam we're definitely going to Paris but haven't decided for how long, we just know that I have to be at school at 9.30am Monday May 5th.
wooooo hooooooo When I see Rome, Naples, Amsterdam written in my diary I just have to pinch myself - am I really going to these places? oh yes I am!
That's it for this blog. I'm all up to date and hope to keep posting as we wend our way about some of Europe.
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