August 24, 2023 Lunch - El Maestrano in Luanco. Dinner - Teson in Figueres
We were dressed and went to breakfast at the Parador. After breakfast we started toward Ribiero. What I did not know was that Suzette had mapped a short cut over the Picos de Europa, which was the shortest route as a crow flies if a crow could fly up 4000 feet over the mountains and back down to sea level.
Luckily our car could make the grade. We went up and up for miles to the spine of the Picos, where we pulled off the road and observed a large hawk and what appeared to be two eagles.
Suzette on the spine of the Picos
We then descended back to the main autovia along the coast and then drove 40 minutes until we turned into Luanco to find a place for lunch.
Suzette did some restaurant research and found a seafood restaurant on the Calle de Bahia that had outdoor seating with a view of the bay called El Maesterano.
We parked beside the Fish Market and walked the three blocks to the restaurant. We sat outside by the street under their portal.
I ordered razor clams, which I had never eaten and Suzette ordered fried calamari. We also tasted the house Albariño and ordered a bottle
Soon a platter of small whole squid with potatoes and another platter with ten sautéed razor clams with a bottle of Albariño was served. We ate everything and enjoyed it immensely.
After lunch we walked next door to a weird shop that reminded me of Don Pisor’s warehouse in San Diego.
It was a space filled with all kinds of things the owner had collected. The two things that caught our eye immediately were a fairly large selection of cowrie shells and Suzette saw several brilliantly colored hats from Cameroon. I bought six shells and Suzette bought two feather hats. We were both thrilled with our purchases. Suzette said she knew exactly where she wished to hang the feather hats. I am hoping that some of the specimen shells I bought are sub-species that will fill gaps in my collection.
Then we returned to the car and drove to the hotel in Figueras on the Asturias side of the bay.
The hotel is a total trip. It reminds me of hotel Portofino in the PBS series because it is a palace dating to 1912. We have a second floor bedroom with a sitting porch and a beautiful view of the bay.
We rested and at 7:00 drove to Ribeiro and within minutes we found an electrical shop that had adaptors and bought 2 for €2 each, clearly the best buy of the trip.
Suzette then suggested that we drive out to an island named Plancha.
When we arrived there was a lighthouse and a terrace restaurant perched on rocks above the waves breaking onto the rocks below.
We sat at a table next to the railing above the pounding surf. I noticed
that many people were ordering a drink that looked like sangria with slices of lemon and orange in it.
I told the waitress that we wanted two of them. When they were served it turned out they were red wine spritzers called Tinto del Verano. They seemed to be a red wine sangria without the brandy. The waitress was correct, they were muy rico and very refreshing.
We stayed at the terrace until almost nine when the sun was setting and hunger had overtaken us. We had several suggestions for dinner restaurants from the hotel, but I found a restaurant named Teson that was rated 5 stars, so we drove back across the bridge to Asturias to Figueras, which is the town where we are staying. We found Teson and a parking place near it beside the marina. Teson has a large patio beside the marina. We took a table and ordered a bottle of water and a bottle of the local ribeiro white wine that proved to be dryer than Albariño.
The port at Figueres looking Ribideo
Suzette ordered a fried squid tapa and a chorizo tapa. I ordered veal scallopini with a blue cheese sauce. Everything came with fried potatoes. We loved the chorizo, hated the squid, and liked the veal. The squid was real chewy and the veal was tender. Both the squid and the veal were breaded with that icky Cachopa batter, but as soon as we removed it the flavors were fine.
We were served around 9:45 and finished eating around around 10:30.
When we drove back to the hotel we discovered that it was very near the restaurants.
Suzette told our waitress that tomorrow is her birthday and she asked for a recommendation of a restaurant that served oysters and the waitress suggested bar Rison.
So that is where we go for Suzette’s birthday tomorrow.
The coast is beautiful and the towns are much more quiet than Santander, so we are enjoying the area already.
Bon Appetiti
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