www.henningn.dk

Friday August 23'rd

Leaving Santiago with Alsa-bus at 8 am towards Asturia. The bus arrives at Gijon at 2.30 pm - and it's time to find Hotel Gijon

This is certainly a step up from the monestary. Nice room - with a TV - and a feature that is way to rare - music at the bathroom.

It has been a little hard to find a place to sleep in Gijon. There is a reason for that. It's called la Fiesta de la sidra natural. Asturia is apple-country, and they make special apples for their sidra (cider). And the pouring of the cider is almost an art. You hold the cider-bottle high into the air - and the glass in a streched arm along your body. Then you pour the cider - and hope to hit the glass.

From the cider-pouring-championships

And a new Guinness-record

At the city-square there is a competion among the bartenders in this unique sport. Every competitor has got 5 glasses and one bottle of cider. Then you have to get exactly 130 cl in each glass - and you also get marks for good style!

Another strange thing is a new Guinness-record. There are 2.725 people gathered at Playa de Poniente for the event. They all get a bottle of cider, and on a signal they all pour the cider in the right way. A new record has been reached - and I bet there will be another one next year.

This might be looking a little bit like Ibiza - but don't worry - the city is also nice.

Saturday August 24'th

I start this day by a walk in the "new" Gijon - which is a nice mix with old and new. I pass the "Centro De Cultura Antigua Instituto". There is music inside, so I take a look. The "student-philharmonics" (?) of Gijon is practising for a concert the same evening. There is also a fine little photo-exhibition with pictures by Constantino Suárez - some from the civil war in Spain.

Lunch at my local restaurant - a little siesta at the room and Pelota on the TV.

Another walk into the city. This time the old part also known as Cimadeville. A young guy tries to impress his girlfriend by pouring cider the right way. Well - it would be more macho it he wasn't standing above just above a sewer - just in case. And outside all the Sideria's you will always notice a slimy mass of spilled cider - and the pigeons seems a little drunk all the time.

A bar in Cimadeville

Sunday August 25'th

Pouring with great concentration

30000 bottle of cider. Thats is what is given out on the last day of the cider-festival. It's a simple system. You buy the official cider-glas of the year. Then you go from stand to stand - all set up by differents producers - and you tast the harvest of this year.

In this field asturians are not as different from other people all over the world. When something is free they will be here. And in the afternoon you can see in some faces that they just might have got a little to much.

I spend the rest of the day as a lot of locals spend a sunday - by walking around.

To Santander