Night-time in Gijon

We took a four-hour bus journey today from Bilbao to Gijon - the largest city in the Asturias region of northern Spain.

Lots of people loathe bus travel but I love it because you can see so much more and you can mingle with the locals in the process.

We went via Torrelavega, Santander and Oviedo, stepping off the bus in Gijon and straight into a cheap and cheerful restaurant-cum-bar for the menu del dia!

It really is remarkable how much food you can get for 10 euros. I had the soup of the day, then a huge seafood paella, followed by ham and fried potatoes. I finished with 'flan', which we Brits for some reason give the French name creme caramel. You were given a huge chunk of bread at the start of the meal and everything was washed down with beer or wine, with a coffee to finish off. Delicious!

I've done a lot of walking since then to reduce the calorie impact and have found Gijon to be a rather lovely seaside city (certainly the bits I've seen so far). It seems to me to be another of those northern Spanish resorts frequented by the Spanish and which is largely bypassed by other nationalities.

I just love the culture and traditions. It's 11pm and I've just got in. Outside on the promenade there are still hundreds of people of all ages enjoying the 'paseo' (walking along in groups chatting about the day and just loving each others' company). It's a wonderful atmosphere.