Sunday Mornings: Coffee, Reflections and Music

If the better way to get to know a big city like New York or London is in the back of a yellow taxi or black cab respectively whilst talking to the - sometimes - affable driver, then the better way to become acquainted with a little town like Isla, in the province of Cantabria, northern Spain, is by talking to the local bookshop owner. And Jesús guided me marvellously through the history and culture of this lesser known area of the Hispanic nation (by the way, why is it that I've never met someone called Jesus in an English-speaking country? Just a thought).

But it was not amongst his more than 40,000 volumes that I first came across Jesús. It was rather whilst he was fulfilling another of his many functions, that of parking attendant. On our first night in Isla, we went out for a bite and had difficulty finding a spot where to park our car. Jesús came to our rescue and pointed at a space that was available. Later I discovered that he was also the local historian and I would not have been surprised if he'd told me that he also delivered the post and did the plumbing for the entire village.

Cantabria is dream of a place. Nestled between the fiercely nationalistic Basque Country to the east and the little-visited region of Asturias to the west, this province has dramatic landscapes, superb beaches and a rich pre-Roman and Celtic culture. Against the usual sun-lounging outdoor life of the Mediterranean, Cantabria looks more conservative and reserved, yet, travellers, beware, for this is a red herring. Raucous tapas bars and cafes decorate their avenues whilst bears and wolves still roam free in the surrounding mountains. Seventy beaches embellish its coast so for the fussy visitor there's plenty to choose from.

According to the local bookshop owner, Jesús, Cantabria leans more towards loyalty to the Spanish Crown than territories like Galicia or the Basque Country. Its main industries are fishing, agriculture and cattle-rearing and you can see immediately why: greenness is everywhere and its coast is largely unspoilt.

A quick check through one of the guides that the owners of the appartment where we stayed had left for us, suggested that driving was recommended. And it is now my turn to do the same favour to anyone thinking of paying a visit to this region of Spain. Please, do hire a car and head for the mountains or the beach, you won't be disappointed. I know that that doesn't sound too eco-friendly or 10:10 but it is just an idea. Alternatively you could borrow a bike for free from the council-run cycling-programme, a brilliant initiative that I would love to see replicated in the UK, especially beyond London. Unfortunately at the moment they don't have bikes for children in Cantabria.

As I mentioned before, driving was strongly recommended and one of the reasons is the road infrastructure. Signs were most of the time accurate and helpful and the state of the motorways was excellent. In fact, there will be three special editions of 'Road Songs' based on my travels around the Cantabrian province. The other reason for getting behind the wheel is the scenery as in when we went west to Picos de Europa.

The way this geographical barrier unveils its beauty to the traveller is the same flirtatious way in which some people unmask their names to strangers in a party: letter by letter and encouraging the other person to have a guess. You know the game, although if your moniker is Jo or Sam, you're out after the second vowel/consonant. Polish names and those from the subcontinent definitely get thumbs-up, especially the former with its various consonants crowding together around each other. Picos de Europa does the same trick. Already, when you get to Unquera you see them in the distance, their peaks reaching up high, trying to tickle the sky's belly. As you enter El Desfiladero de la Hermida (Hermida's Gorge) the landscape begins to change and the temperature gets colder. Along the road the Deva river is visible most of the time and there are stops on the way up where you can rest and dip you toes in its clear waters. The end of the route is Fuente Dé, a cable car station whose name always elicits the same question from Spanish speakers: ¿De qué? The place takes its name after the first syllable of the Deva river.

Once there we decided to take a short walk (average trek lasts more than two hours and we did not have much time) nearby. We were regaled with magnificent views of the lush Cantabrian and Asturian regions.

It was at the end of this journey to Picos de Europa that the culinary highlight of my holiday happened. Stopping in Panes on the way back we had our dinner in a beautiful and family-friendly restaurant. If there is an aspect on which I always like to remark is Spaniards' passion for food. And on this occasion I had Fabada Asturiana (what else but? We were in Asturias after all). This is a thick soup of fabas (big white beans) with pieces of black pudding, bacon and chorizo thrown in. And as you have probably guessed by now that will be my first recipe for my next Food, Music column.

If Picos de Europa was worth the almost two-hour drive there and back, then the city of Castro-Urdiales was just as pleasant a place to visit. In the total opposite direction, east, this former colony of the Roman empire has pride of place in the Cantabrian heart. It is a very dynamic city whose main industry is fishing. Needless to say, the cod I had that night had been freshly caught that morning. Its medieval castle, which since 1853 has also doubled up as lighthouse, is testamente to the rich history of the region, from withstanding and later submitting to the attack by Napoleon's forces to its use as a jail during the Franco years.

This is but a snippet of my recent sojourn in Spain. Everytime I go I feel much closer to its people, its customs and its cuisine. There will be more features focusing on areas like language, photography, music and cooking. And remember, next time you go to a small town, find the local bookshop owner, pronto. By the way, I bought eight or nine titles from him, so he also turned out to be a very efficient salesman. Thanks. Ahhh... and before I forget, the music is still upbeat because even though autumn is knocking at my door, I want to make it wait a little bit outside it. It still feels like summer. Hope you enjoy the tune today.

All photos taken by the blog author.

Next Post: 'What Makes a Good Writer?', the first instalment of a fifteen-part series on writing and reading by the outstanding British writer Zadie Smith. To be published on Tuesday 8th September at 11:59pm (GMT)

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