We did not spend a whole lot of time in Leon as we were
there to just have a place to stay while we were on a kayaking trip with some
friends. We were lucky enough that one
of the girls we were with had a family apartment that was not being used and so
we could crash there for free instead of getting a hotel.
We did go out in the evenings for tapas though and that was
pretty fun. It is a great city to hang
out in the evenings and have drinks with friends. We even found some places that offered a few
vegetarian options which was amazing.
One of the cool things they have in regards to tapas, not just in Leon
as we have had it here in Valladolid as well, is a dish of peppers. They serve up a platter of roasted small
green peppers and everyone shares them.
The fun part is that some of the peppers are very spicy and some are
just normal peppers, but you do not know which ones are spicy so it is funny
when people get a hot one. We also found
a place that had veggie pizza!
Out for Tapas
The cathedral looks gorgeous from the outside but as it was
late it was not open to the public. We
would like to go back to experience it again during the daytime. We didn't really get to see anything else
happening in the city except tapas.
However the reason we were there was to go on a kayaking adventure and
that was amazing!
Our Australian friend Lloyd introduced us to a couple of his
friends Ines and Sergio who are from Madrid.
Ines spoke English but Sergio did not know much. It didn't matter though we all were able to
communicate and we had a great time.
Ines picked us up in Valladolid and drove us up to her families place in
Leon. In the morning we all got up
early, had some breakfast and took a long drive up into Asturias for a day of
kayaking. I have only been kayaking once
before when I was 8 and I hated it.
However I was eager to try again.
It was a really cool outdoors place where they had kayaking,
canoeing, rock climbing and paint ball.
They gave us wet suits and some instructions on how to properly kayak
before making us slide down a ramp and off a jump into the water. I was not impressed with this idea and didn't
want to do it however I didn't want to ruin the fun for anyone else so I forced
myself to be brave and it was actually pretty fun. We went down a river for about 14 km. It took us close to 5 hours with a few breaks
for snacks and sidra (alcoholic apple juice).
I really enjoyed myself and by the end my arms were not near as sore as
I imagined they would be.
Kayaking this beautiful river
Sidra
The next day Ines took us to a teeny tiny village near where
she grew up. I mean it was so small you
wouldn't even know it existed if you didn't know it existed. It was beautiful though. We wanted to have lunch in this really cool
bar/restaurant there. For such a small
village it was very busy at lunch with tourists I suppose or people from
neighbouring villages. They did not have
any vegetarian options and as it was a three course lunch we would not have
been able to eat anything so Ines talked to them about making us something
special. We were going for a bit of a
hike so they said if we gave them a few hours they would have something for us.
Small Spanish Villages are magical
We hiked through this amazing canyon that reminded me of
something you would see in Lord of the Rings or something. The canyon lead to a set of stairs and when
you took them up there was this cave that had a mini cathedral in it. It was really neat and kind of creepy. Through the rest of the hike we picked
hazelnuts off all the hazelnut trees. I
have never had fresh from the tree hazelnuts before. I would never have even known that’s what
they were!
We went to the restaurant for a delicious lunch. Lunch is a pretty serious meal in Spain. There is usually a sit down for a few hours
where you have salads/soups, main course and dessert. There is also wine and of course coffee to
finish it off. I could have taken a nap
after that. I am not used to eating such
big meals.
After lunch Ines drove us
back to Valladolid. It was a really fun
weekend. I am so grateful that Lloyd invited us and we met some wonderful
people. One of the things that I have enjoyed the most about these sorts of outings (Kayaking and also hiking with Daoiz) is that you get to see things that you would never get to see if you were just here on vacation. We would never know these small towns and gorgeous mountain trails existed without people taking us exploring. We have been really lucky to have met such awesome people who want to show us all the amazing places Spain has to offer!
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