Photo: Panoramas

Eat Slowly

Lyon, the country’s oft-named culinary capital, is a good starting point if restaurant meals are what you’re after. But make sure not to confine yourself — after you’ve discovered what the city has to offer, pick a neighboring region and dive in. It’s likely to offer cuisine just as rewarding.

And, even if you invest in the informative Michelin Red Guide, complement its pages by asking the locals what and where they like to eat and drink. They’ll passionately tell you, and their answers can point you to places Michelin missed.

Photo: Rubber Slippers In Italy

Food in France is really all about its markets, its growers, and its local ingredients, celebrated in regional annual festivals throughout the country. Food and wine are the ultimate art forms of this nation.

For me the greatest experience with French food comes from exploring the unique ingredients and products of a region.

I recommend making regular market visits a central part of your traveler’s routine — you’ll find there’s a weekly one wherever you are.

There you’ll see all the ingredients of an authentically local dish artistically displayed by the people who grow them.

Sacred France

The French landscape has been marked with sacred sites since prehistoric times. Here are some highlights of the diverse ancestry of spiritual France:

Lascaux is a much more powerful site than your art history text lets on. Even its precisely replicated Lascaux II — the only part of the complex you’re now allowed to enter — will make an impression.

After your visit to the cave, you can enjoy a picnic lunch in the hilltop forest that covers it.

Photo: Eusebius@Commons

Chartres must be the medieval Lascaux. Parallels are easy given the intimacy, artistry, light, and warm cavernous spaces of both places. But there’s no comparison for Chartres’ illuminated stained glass windows.

The 13th-century cathedral also has a labyrinth built into the nave floor, a contemplative pilgrimage path offered to those who couldn’t make the more distant journeys to Santiago de Compostela, Rome, or Jerusalem in the Middle Ages.

Ste-Chapelle, a Gothic church from the 13th century on the Île de la Cité in Paris, is the perfect space for quiet prayer and meditation.

Mont St-Michel is a Benedictine fortress site from the 11th century. Some claim it sits on a ley line and power spot that is far more ancient, one that belongs to the Archangel Michael (St-Michel) as he works his energy across the globe.

The Romanesque pilgrim’s and seaman’s 11th-century Église Ste-Radegonde — near the fishing hamlet of Talmont-sur-Gironde on the Garonne estuary north of Bordeaux — is a lesser-known church that’s worth the effort of a visit for its cliffside setting.

In Brittany, the ancient standing stones of Carnac are among the world’s most important Neolithic sites, dating to around 6,500 to 4,000 years ago.

Nearby, Le Forêt de Paimport, mythically referred to as Brocéliande Forest, is a contender for the legendary land of King Arthur and the home of the mythical Morgan Le Fay.

Le Chemin de Saint-Jacques is a network of pilgrimage roads starting in or passing through France and destined for Santiago de Compostela in Spain. The most popular begins in Le Puy-en-Velay and leads to the French-Spanish border at St-Jean-Pied-de-Port. Three other major routes start in Paris, Vézelay, and Arles.

Photo: McPig

Romance in France

Paris, of course, is high on the list of French romantic destinations — and for good reason. But beyond the capital, where to? Here are some ideas:

A walk along the sea trail in Normandy from St-Malo to Cancale — for oysters, bien sûr, a well-known aphrodisiac.

Arles may very well be the most romantic town in France, when the mosquitoes aren’t active (summer and early autumn). Arles in October? Mon dieu. Yes.

Bicycling in Provence.

Canoeing along the Dordogne River.

A wine tour of Burgundy.

And finally, touching again on local markets; there’s nothing more romantic than spending a lazy morning buying ingredients — baguettes, cheeses, wine — for an outdoor lunch at a nearby park, riverbank, or countryside overlook.

Community Connection

This is the fifth and final installment in Beebe’s series of Eat, Pray, Love guides. The other four cover Spain, Morocco, Portugal, and the USA.

Photo: chris runoff

Culinary America

A land of immigrants, Americans learned long ago that the best way to stay in touch with the mother culture — long after the language fell away — was through cooking. This nostalgia and passion are as much a part of traditional recipes as their ingredients.

In addition to using food to remember where we came from, we also use it to express where we want to go. American cuisine is one of diverse experimentation. Here are some favorites:

1. The San Francisco Bay Area is America’s culinary king. From Half Moon Bay to San Francisco and Berkeley to Sonoma and Napa and Marin Counties, this region leads in food and wine that’s locally and organically grown and artistically prepared.

Photo: hillary h

2. For the best traditional cuisine mixed with riotous innovation, New Orleans is the place. This southern city flawlessly combines tradition with experimentation, and its people continue to define the joy of cooking, eating, and sharing a table.

3. Chicago, with its incredibly diverse population — from Eastern and Central Europe, to the circum-Mediterranean, to Latin America, to East Asia — is a foodie heaven.

Here’s a city where you can find the best of the most unknown cuisines, such as a Serbian restaurant serving up traditional dishes that would pass muster back home.

4. Philadelphia is as rich in American food and drink as it is in American history, especially considering its rise in recent years as a major restaurant town.

Freshly feeding this trend is the hinterland of farms, forests, and fields in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey, the presence of European-styled daily markets like the Reading Terminal and Italian Markets, and the growth of urban community gardens.

Philadelphia’s City Tavern served our founding fathers, and it can do the same for you. It’s still as exciting, broad, and spicy as it was in the 18th century, when far-flung ingredients were constantly coming through the city’s active international port on the Delaware River.

Sacred America

In addition to human-built spiritual facilities, some of America’s most sacred sites are found in its varied and vast natural spaces. A handy list of such places is available at Places of Peace and Power. Standouts include:

Photo: R. Doyle Bowman

1. Canyon de Chelly in northeastern Arizona is among the longest continuously inhabited places in North America, to this day managed by the Navajo Nation in collaboration with the National Park Service.

Canyon de Chelly is not only a national monument but also home to a Navajo community.

2. In 1872, Lakota shaman Black Elk identified the center of the universe in the Black Hills of the Dakotas — Okawita Paha, otherwise known as Harney Peak. His Great Vision preserved for us the awareness that this place as an immensely important sacred spot in North America.

While much has changed in the region since then, Harney Peak and the Black Hills continue to possess the power to arrest us, to take us out of our ordinary selves, and to enable us to see our interconnectedness to each other and all life.

3. The Vedanta Temple in Montecito, California, occupies a strong, authentic sacred landscape in the mountains east of Santa Barbara. Throughout the years, the temple has maintained its peaceful atmosphere of meditation and spiritual practice, welcoming all.

Photo: SF Brit

4. Grace Cathedral in San Francisco has an open, spiritually oriented attitude, plus the appeal of an indoor-outdoor labyrinth based on that of France’s Chartres Cathedral.

It’s a terrific setting for a walking meditation, and visitors are respectful of each others’ desire for inner work and silence. More information is available on their website.

Romantic America

Again, from can’t-look-away natural scenery to human-made getaways, America offers countless opportunities for hand-in-hand exploration.

1. Strolling Philadelphia’s expansive colonial neighborhood is like walking in old America and old Europe simultaneously. Filled with over three centuries of history — a marvel of antiquity for most American cities — Old City Philadelphia is full of gardens, walking paths, cobbled streets, old cemeteries, and great cafes and taverns.

2. Driving California’s Highway 1 from Half Moon Bay to Santa Cruz, you’ll pass through one of North America’s most romantic natural landscapes.

This unique coastal expanse possesses wild vistas and nature parks, intimate towns and beach coves, all along a route where adventure is just around the bend.

3. The French Quarter of New Orleans will always hang onto that worn, Old World romance no matter what comes its way.

Photo: specialkrb

From its colorful ambiance, to its great food and ale, to a sense of community connectedness, this is a great place to go with the one you love, or perhaps to find him or her during an authentic blues set in one of many small, local joints.

4. Another excellent romantic mini-roadtrip runs between the Hudson River Valley of New York and the Berkshires of western Massachusetts. The pace of life here is utterly different than that in the cities just hours away.

From the road you’ll get vistas of mountains, forests, and rivers, while there are plenty of opportunities to stop and savor good local food, go for a romantic hike, and enjoy theater and live music in old-fashioned, small-scale venues.

Community Connection

If you like the Eat, Pray, Love concept, you’ll want to check out Beebe’s guides to Morocco, Portugal, and Spain.

Have your own favorite spot for a culinary, spiritual, or romantic getaway in the U.S.? Share it with Trips readers in the comments.

Photo above and feature photo: Gret@Lorenz

Tasty Cuisine

Rabat and Fez are the best places for serious culinary explorations. While Rabat is the most modern and comfortable Moroccan city, Fez is traditional and fascinating. Both offer perfect moods for culinary adventures and both have attracted some of the best chefs in the country.

Some might argue that Marrakech is also a great culinary destination — and I wouldn’t disagree — but what’s happening in Rabat and Fez goes beyond catering to tourists and is directed at locals as well.

Here are some unique Moroccan culinary experiences worth seeking out:

White truffles

Photo: Gret@Lorenz

You can find these for sale along the road from Rabat to Meknes.

Artfully stacked on overturned buckets, they’re sold near oak trees growing in a special soil that stimulates the symbiotic relationship between the truffle and the oak roots.

Argan oil

A specialty of Morocco. It’s a toasty, nutty oil, traditionally derived from a complex process: the undigested pits of the Argan fruit, after being eaten by tree-climbing goats, are picked from the animals’ dung, then cleaned and toasted.

Next, the pits are ground or pressed and the oil is bottled for culinary uses or further processed for cosmetic creams and ointments.

But worry not, today the oil is produced in a more sanitary way. Its taste is a cross between peanut oil and freshly mashed green olives — an absolutely delicious way to dress a salad.

Saffron

Taliouine — south of Marrakech — offers a unique twist to the more commonly available Spanish and Iranian saffrons. The saffron of Taliouine has its own flavor due to southern Morocco’s soil makeup.

Wine

The Meknes Valley yields the finest Moroccan wine, which has come a long way. While wine grapes have been grown here since Roman times, in the past twenty years the industry has begun to make certain vintages that wine lovers the world over would gladly add to their cellars.

Photo: dominikgolenia

A particular favorite of mine is Château Roslane Premier Cru from A.O.C. Les Coteaux de l’Atlas.

Escargot

Steamed and ladled cups of brothy escargot are a fun snack that you will most likely see on the street at night.

People gather around the snail seller’s cart and sip and nibble on these hot little striped-shell delicacies.

Sacred Experiences

The biggest challenge to travel in Morocco is that non-Muslim visitors are not allowed into mosques and shrines, with the Hassan II mosque in Casablanca being the exception.

Yet, the natural beauty of Morocco more than makes up for this and possesses what my Moroccan friend Saadia would call “the Big Waloo” — the Big Nothing — as in total, pure divine presence.

From ocean vista to mountain pass to the Big Waloo of the rosy-orange desert dunes of the south, the natural world’s sacred is open to all. You can take your pick following your own preferences.

For ocean-lovers, explore the Atlantic coast from Asilah to Essaouira.

Photo: Rosino

If you’re into mountains, anywhere in the interior — from north to south — gives way to great views whose only sign of human habitation comes from the shepherds and their brown-faced sheep, black goats, and sturdy donkeys.

Those who hear the desert’s call should head south to Merzouga and ride on a camel trek into the dunes.

For a rare chance at experiencing Moroccan sacred traditions as a local, come to Fez in June and July for The Fes Festival of World Sacred Music, when sacred spaces otherwise closed to visitors open their doors throughout the city.

Another similar music festival unfolds annually in Essaouira in June: The Gnaoua and World Music Festival.

Romantic Locales

Asilah and Essaouira command a romantic air, with their oceanside settings and well-established art scenes. These are also two cities with an open, international mood that makes them relaxing.

Asilah is smaller and a bit more intimate, while Essaouira has more expansive possibilities. Both have the dramatic backdrop of fortified old towns against the great watery blue of the Atlantic.

Rabat is Morocco’s most mellow and cosmopolitan city, one that invites visitor interaction with the locals. Numerous cafes offer comfortable places for men and women to enjoy a cup of tea or coffee.

Photo: Vibragiel

Seaside Rabat’s medieval neighborhood, the walled medina, is a welcoming place to walk, shop, and talk to artisans carving or painting wood or working silver and gold.

Finally, the Roman ruins of Volubilis, the Roman provincial capital of this part of Africa (and known in Arabic as Walili), is worth a mention.

Its romantic appeal lies in the beautiful Meknes Valley that surrounds it, and in the ancient stones and mosaics of the old city.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Other guides in the Eat, Pray, Love series can be found on Portugal and Spain.

Three more articles that will satiate your food, spirit, and love needs are The World’s Best Cities for Late Night Food, How to Respectfully Visit Holy Places Around the World, and The Romantic’s Cheap Guide to Southern France.

Photo: McPig

The vineyards and golden sun of Portugal rival any scene from southern France and the south Pacific. Its diversity ranges from turquoise surf, to grilled sardines and cold beer, to an inland hike with vistas that gaze upon endless vineyards.

Eat: Grilled fish, fresh cheese, and wine

Photo: *madalena-pestana*

Creative and traditional cooking isn’t hard to find in Portugal. Locally grown and produced specialties can be discovered in the form of soups, grilled meats, fresh fish, sheep’s milk cheese, unique wines, pastries, and fruit from the Azores and Madeira islands.

The best way to sample the cuisine is to situate yourself for a while in Lisbon. In the neighborhoods of Alfama, Chiado, and Barrio Alto, you’ll find a mix of traditional and modern dishes that use the same locally grown, fresh ingredients.

After your immersion in the capital, pick a region based on the food and wine you liked the best.

Were you savoring garlic soup? Or enjoying that quintessential Portuguese dish of pork and clams with a full-bodied Alentejo wine? Then head southeast into the Alentejo and graze your way from the coast to the Spanish border.

Destinations

Community Connection to Portugal

Did you find yourself enamored most with leafy green soups, caldos verdes, and that white, crisp Vinho Verde? Then make your way north to the Minho and hike amidst the vineyards, reveling in the hearty stews at their source.

Maybe it was the freshly grilled fish and lemon wedge that grabbed your attention. If you discovered how well wines from nearby Palmela, Setúbal, Colares, and Carcavelos went with the urban cuisine, then continue in Lisbon and nearby Cascais.

Alternatively, good coastal routes travel north to O Porto or south toward Sagres and Tavira, stocked with perfectly grilled sea fare at workers’ cafes and seaside eateries.

Pray: Spiritual upliftment

The shrine of Our Lady of Fatima is one of the most famous holy sites in Portugal. Of course, there are others equally powerful and no less important. Here are a few:

Though Gothic and Romanesque churches in Lisbon were destroyed during the earthquake of 1755, many beautiful and soulful places of prayer survive all across Portugal. Two particularly lovely churches can be found in the villages of Rates and in Rio Mau, both near Póvoa de Varzim north of O Porto.

Photo: author

Braga is considered the nation’s religious heart due to the historic role the church played there. It’s home to the major shrine Bom Jesus do Monte.

A hike in the north-central Serra da Estrêla Natural Park, stretching from east of Coimbra to the Spanish border, offers profound landscapes that move the spirit.

The Caminho Português, the pilgrimage road through Portugal to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, is the historic pilgrims’ road. They made their way northward to O Porto and then onward to Baiona and Vigo before veering inland to Santiago.

The healing sulfuric springs of Caldas da Rainha, north of Lisbon and south of Nazaré, are near the coast. Though its fame peaked in the 15th and later centuries, it likely has a more ancient history of healing and veneration.

Love: From vineyards to castles to beaches

Photo: Teosaurio

The land that gave us fado — that lyrical and emotionally charged Portuguese blues — is full of romantic spots.

The Minho River’s sinewy passage, creating the northern border between Portugal and Spain, goes from remote mountain passes — where wolves still roam — to the Atlantic, passing through unique wine country along the way.

Photo: Fr Antunes

Lisbon boasts many elevated lookout points. At sunset, scan over the Tejo River, where one can sip wine at a café table or stroll through the Alfama listening to lone musicians while little bistros beckon passersby with their fragrant smells.

In Sintra, visit the fairytale hilltop estates and the green, rolling parks and forests with their inviting footpaths.

Southern Tavira is a small and friendly fishing town with beautiful coastlines, beaches, and explorable little islands accessible by row boat.

Evora’s wall-enclosed 14th-century town offers a medieval mood as well as ancient, well-preserved Roman ruins, in the heart of cork, olive, and wine country.

You can find a medieval hilltop castle in Leiria, as well as pine forests planted by Portugal’s romantic poet king, Dom Dinis, who ruled during the late 13th and early 14th centuries.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

Beebe is also the author of Eat, Pray, Love in Spain — the first in this series.

For more lesser known spots in Portugal, have a read of Claudio Silva’s article Beyond Lisbon and Algarve. If you’ve packed your surfboard, Rhys Stacker can tell you where to find some excellent Portuguese surf.

Top 5 Places to Eat

Every region and city in Spain has a culinary specialty, but some cities have a culinary life that strives to keep exploring and having fun in the kitchen. These places are:

• 1. Barcelona
• 2. San Sebastian
• 3. Bilbao
• 4. Madrid
• 5. Santiago de Compostela

I suggest you fully explore one city’s culinary gems, then venture out. If in Barcelona, consider journeying north to Girona and Besalu, a neighboring city and small town, each with great Catalan cuisine.

After exploring Santiago de Compostela’s seafood, take a trip to the Rias Baixas, the western coast, and enjoy Finisterre, Noya, and Porto do Son.

A market in Barcelona

Also, if you really want to get off the main tourist path, I suggest heading to Rioja and exploring the culinary wine pairings in Logroño, Haro, and Laguardia, all in the heart of incredible wine country.

Top 5 Places to Pray

Spirituality is an intimate and personal experience, but here I have striven to offer ‘universal’ places, regardless of denomination (or preference to be non-denominational).

This has been the criterion I applied in researching my book, The Spiritual Traveler Spain: The Guide to Sacred Sites and Pilgrim Routes (HiddenSpring/Paulist Press, March 2009). In this spirit, I strongly recommend:

Destinations

Community Connection to Spain

The Camino de Santiago

Even if you walk only a portion of the over 500 kilometer + road across the north of Spain, the act of walking has a profound effect upon the spirit.

Another aspect of the Camino is the string of beautifully carved Romanesque churches that line the road in both France and Spain.

The builders of the Romanesque weren’t afraid to look straight on at the nature of being human; their carvings depict the mix of human expression, from our donkey nature to our divine. Check out this great audio guide to the Camino.

Santo Domingo de Silos

Spend a weekend at south of Burgos, taking in the chanted prayer of the monks six times a day. Check out the Yecla gorge where vultures fly along the steep rocks.

Montserrat Monastery

Sierra de Mariola

A hike around the Sierra de Mariola mountains and their aromatic full of medicinal plants (please do not pick). The best access point is from the village of Bocairent, northwest of Alcoy in the province of Valencia.

Toledo, Córdoba, and Granada

Make a triangle and visit Toledo, Córdoba, and Granada for the beauty of each city and their religious heritage of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Take time to let your spirit feel the spaces in the old mosque, Cristo de la Luz, and old synagogue, Santa María la Blanca, in Toledo, the mosque-cathedral in Córdoba, and the Alhambra in Granada.

La Vera Cruz

Take a path away from the hubbub of Segovia and walk outside the old walls to the church of La Vera Cruz, a beautiful round church on a hillside surrounded with wildflowers and grazing sheep. Although only walking distance from Segovia, it is wild and remote and conducive to meditation.

Downhill is a convent that also serves as the final resting place for the Catholic mystic, St. John of the Cross.

Top 5 Places to Love

The Alhambra in Granada

This place is both a spiritually uplifting and a great spot either to walk with your sweetheart or sit on your own in one of the gardens and write in your journal.

Santiago de Compostela

The northwestern pilgrim’s city of Santiago de Compostela has some of the most romantic streets: multicolored granite buildings and footpaths, rain that comes and goes creating a misty wrap about the green city, and the live music of a lone violin or guitar or ocarina echoing against the stones.

Walking the Camino in Galicia

Seville

Take a moonlit walk or boat paddle along the Guadalquivir River in Seville in spring when the orange blossoms are in bloom.

Oviedo

Try the open air market and flea market on a Sunday morning in Oviedo, stopping for coffee in one of many cafes around the covered market area.

Montserrat

Montserrat mountain is both sacred and romantic, with toothy peaks jutting up from the surrounding plains inland from Barcelona.

Though a major Catholic shrine dedicated to the Black Madonna of Montserrat, this ethereal setting has been the romantic and sacred focus of pre-Christians as well, including a very likely place where Venus was once honored (and some argue, that she still is honored in her form as the Mother of God).

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

For a Spanish experience that’s neither romantic nor spiritual (at least not in the peaceful sense of the word!), consider Running with the Bulls in Pamplona. And for the romantics out there, Spain also made our list of the World’s Best Spots for a Same-Sex Wedding. If you do choose to walk a portion of the Santiago de Compostela Camino, be sure to listen to our audio guide here.

Photo above by Wolfgang Staudt

Feature photo by G u i d o

Cheap and Romantic Lodging Options

Forget staying in hotels, even the budget ones. Southern France is filled with self-catering urban apartments and rural bungalows. Renting one of these for a week or two cuts down lodging costs by 30% to 50% and honestly, they up the romance and authenticity of being there by 200%.

The beauty of renting a place is that you unpack once and spend the rest of your time exploring the area– eating, drinking, wandering, hiking– without stress. And that is how one arrives at the good life.

Some suggested sites to search for your temporary home away from home are:

• Top Rural in France
• Homelidays in France
• Craigslist: Look for housing listings under France for Marseilles, Montpellier, Lyon, and Toulouse).
• For gîtes (rural, self-catering houses and apartments) in Provence French Connections has some romantic bargains if you hunt about.

Photo above by van Ort

Eating and Drinking

Having your self-catering accommodation offers the next big economic and romantic move: the ability to shop at the famous Provencal daily and weekly markets and sample the true terroir of the land: locally-grown food and wine.

Buy your fruits and vegetables, cheeses and sausages from the people who make them, as with the wine. Rent a bike, land your hands on one of the GR foot trail maps, and cycle and walk to villages and towns on market day.

Weekly food markets occur in nearly every town and village. When you arrive at your home base, ask the tourist office for a list of nearby markets.

And always ask the locals. If there is one thing people love to talk about it’s their local food and wine, and where and from whom to buy it. Tourist offices are also well equipped to help you with details.

Flea Markets

Most flea markets occur on Sundays, though some are on Saturdays. Flea markets bring out the diverse color of society and are a great way to see the old fashions and aesthetics of a place.

Moreover, flea markets let you find a one-of-a-kind treasure to take home at a bargain price. Again, the local tourist office can tell you when and where these occur. Avignon and Montpellier have terrific flea markets as do other main towns.

Cultural Activities for Free (or Almost)

Music in the open air, galleries showing off the artistic genius of the area, hikes, sunset vistas from perfect perches– these are many of the free experiences you can find easily in Provence. Concerts are listed on church doors and at tourist offices. Gallery exhibits often have a sidewalk billboard announcing a little hidden plaza where there’s an exhibit.

The person from whom you rented your apartment can tell you the best place to watch the sunset in their town. (In Avignon, it is at the top of the Rocher des Doms gardens). Also ask them where the best trails are for hikes.

If museums are a must, take advantage of the all-city admission deals where you purchase a pass for a one or two-day access to all sites, rather than paying the higher individual admission fees.

Finally, rent a bike and/or buy a good walking map and use your own muscles to motor about. Slow Travel France is a great resource and offers terrific ideas and guidance for hikes in the Luberon.

Photo above by Wolfgang Staudt

Two Itineraries for Touring Provence

These two one-week itineraries capture the highlights of Provence. They complement each other well so if you have two full weeks, I’d give them both a go.

Week One: Arles, Nîmes, and the Camargue, or, The Roman, Romany, and Cowboy Route

• Make Arles your home base—renting a studio in the heart of town, where you can enjoy strolls in the streets Van Gogh once walked.
• Dine at the family-run places that advertise plat du jour, repas à prix fixe, or formules (set menus). These reasonably-priced set menus and specials tend to offer local, seasonal foods at the best prices.

• Arles’ market days are Wednesday and Saturday.

• Rent bikes to tour the Camargue, which you can do from Arles. Be sure to have plenty of sunscreen and mosquito repellent. July and August are the worst months for mosquitoes, but May, June, September and October (maybe even November) can be bad as well.
• Take the train for a day trip to Nîmes. If you want to go further afield, make another day trip to Montpellier, to the west, or Marseilles, to the east.

• Nîmes’ market day is Monday.

• Take a local bus to Les Stes-Maries-de-la-Mer for a beach day, enjoying shellfish, chilled dry rosé wine, and this pilgrimage site where it is believed many sacred Marys, including Mary Magdalene, and other biblical figures, arrived by boat from the Holy Land around AD 40.

• Les-Stes-Maries’ markets days are Monday and Friday.

Photo above by Wolfgang Staudt

Week Two: Avignon, Le Luberon, and the Pont du Gard, or, the Medieval Towns and Villages Route

• Make Avignon your home base. A great hotel, if you decide on that option over the lodging suggestions above, is the Hotel Medieval, which rents studios with kitchenettes at weekly rates. It’s in the heart of medieval Avignon.
• Allow 2-3 days just to soak up Avignon’s cultural, culinary, and social scenes. Enjoy the gallery exhibits, the church concerts, the food and flea markets, and the bistros scattered throughout the old Papal town.

• Avignon’s market day is Monday. It also has the daily Les Halles covered food market that is a treat to shop.

• Take a bus to Gordes and hike around this mountaintop town for the day: Take a linking bus or hire a taxi to the Abbaye de Senanque in a hidden valley nearby.

• Take a day bus to Uzès and the Pont du Gard, preferably during Uzès market days of Wednesday or Saturday.

• Take the train to Aix-en-Provence for the day and soak up the university atmosphere (which also means good eats at good prices).

• Aix’s market is open every day on the Place Richelme.

• Make a day trip to St-Rémy-de-Provence and enjoy a smaller-scale but quintessential Provencal town on the edge of the Alpilles limestone mountains.
• St.-Rémy’s market day is Wednesday.

COMMUNITY CONNECTION

For more tips to travel France on the cheap, check out How To Travel in France for Less Than $100 a Day, or our list of 10 Free Things To Do in Paris.

And for a more personal take on travel in France, check out these blogs from Matador community members: The Quiet of the Dordogne, by member Maija, or Is There Any Where I’d Rather Be?, by member terryodee.

These earthy wines, whose color is reminiscent of the orange-red soil of the region, inspired me to visit the wilds of the Corbieres. There I found more great wine, good food, incredible places for walks and hikes, and a stunning history, that of the Cathars.

In the middle ages, particularly the 12th and 13th centuries, the Cathars were a spiritual-religious group of people all across France who interpreted Christianity differently from the surrounding Catholic orthodoxy. They were especially concentrated and well-received in the south, in and around the Languedoc-Roussillon region.

They followed what they saw as a more authentic spiritual path, one that held the sensory and material world as the deception of a false god, not a divine creation. The path out of this deception was to deny the material world its power, to live a simple life, and to focus on one’s spiritual origins.

Woven into these fundamentals were the practice of vegetarianism, equality of the sexes, belief in reincarnation, and forsaking material consumption for power and display.

Photo by Beebe Bahrami

In Languedoc, the Cathars were protected by the count of Toulouse and permitted to carry on their ways, unlike in other parts of France where Catharism was treated as heretical. This held until the early 13th century when the Cathars were deemed too successful and independent.

Both the king of France and Pope Innocent III wanted dominion over them: what they really wanted was possession of the south. Together, king and pope came down on the Cathars in a crusade, Christian against Christian, massacring anyone in their path.

Called the Cathar Crusade or the Albigensian Crusade, after the southern city of Albi, this is one of the darkest marks in the history of France and of Christianity.

Today, there is still a somber and mournful feel to the sites. As you travel through a vast sea of vineyards and rolling hills, you encounter countless crumbling castle-fortresses on hilltops, reminders of a dangerous past.

There is also a surviving spirit, whispering that the Cathars survived in their own way, and that tolerance is far more valuable than what’s gained through greed and corruption. The Cathars today are something of a romantic group in the country’s imagination. Some people even say there are living Cathars in these remote hills.

Photo by Beebe Bahrami

Here are my recommendations on how to enjoy this region in a low-key and affordable way:

1. You really can’t go wrong on any road you take.

This is especially true if you head from the north around Béziers, Narbonne to Carcassonne, then south to Foix, Limoux, Quillan, Lagrasse, and Durban.

All along the way, vineyards welcome unscheduled drop-in visits and tastings with colorful and often creative roadside signs. You’ll find a warm and welcoming people, so don’t be shy to give it a go and don’t worry if your French consists of the rudiments of the last pages of your travel guidebook. Wine is a universal language and easily understood.

2. Whether you opt to walk, cycle, or drive, follow the Cathar Trail.

The Cathar Trail, or Le Sentier Cathar, gives one of the best cross sections of the Corbieres, not to mentioncovering the major Cathar sites of the wider region. The trail is around 250 kilometers and starts in Narbonne.

It continues to Port-la-Nouvelle, Durban, Padem, Duilhac, Galamus, Bugerach, Quillan, Puivert, Espezel, Comus, Montségur, Roquefixade, and on to end in Foix.

Photo by Beebe Bahrami

3. Take a few detours:
• Renne-le-Chateau, near Couiza, for a seriously New Agey place dedicated to both Mary Magdalene and Cathar history
• Limoux for the warm cheer of the town. Take a picnic lunch along their river, and and try the Blanquette de Limoux, a solid sparkling wine that has absorbed the red mineral of the soil.
• The castle at Arques, offering a lovely drive through low green hills, along valley streams, and deep into that red earth.

4. The entire Aude, of which Corbieres is a part, is dotted with vineyards and little restaurants and cafes advertising the local vintages and fare. Corbieres has a huge variety of terroirs, a fact you’ll easily understand as you wind around its hills, forests, and streams that result in several different growing zones.

Keep your eye open for restaurants and cafes where the locals are gathering; these are a sure sign of a good place.

Some Resources:

The Cathar Way – A Walker’s Guidebook by Alan Mattingly (ISBN: 9781852844868), published by Cicerone Guides.

The Sentier Cathar – In the Footsteps of the Cathars

The Cathars of Languedoc

Matador member toby has blogged about another French wine warren, the Rhone Valley. And Matador contributing writer Craig Martin gets you up to speed on wine know-how in his informative article, How To Drink Wine Like a Pro.

Oeno travelers may like to record their favorite wines and wine experiences in The Little Black Journal of Wine: A Wine Lover’s Record Keeper

If you are traveling alone, tapas bars both pull and repel: you want to be a part of the mob scene, eating and drinking, but you feel you’ll stick out, or it’s so crowded you don’t have your own mob of friends to help push you in.

Many times in the past I’ve wandered by a packed tapas place in Spain’s cities and was dying to go in but felt intimidated as a solo female traveler. But after 22 years of facing the invisible barrier, I’ve overcome the psychological obstacles that held me back.

Photo by jenny downing

Here are 5 tried and true tips to have a marvelous time joining the mob scene at tapas places and enjoying some of Spain’s best cuisine:

1. Pick the tapas place well.

Many cities in Spain have certain streets known exclusively for their tapas. Ask around for these spots. Once there, go into the places that are mobbed with warm, gregarious locals. This is always the sign of a place with great tapas and a welcoming attitude.

2. Read the menu from the outside.

From the edge of the bar, locate the chalk board or printed listing of tapas being offered and decide what you want. Memorize it, as well as what you want to drink. Then slowly move in.

Photo by clspeace

3. Don’t be intimidated when you order.

Everyone is packed in? No room at the bar to place your order? No matter, Spanish bartenders are some of the most aware and mindful people on the planet. Have faith in them and patiently worm your way toward the bar.

As you do, one of two things will happen. Either the bartender will make eye contact and expect you to tell him what you want to drink and eat, or, the sea will start to part and you’ll eventually get to the bar counter and can place your order there.

Then, hold the spot for as long as you like. Or, pay up and carry your drink and tapa out to the edge again. I prefer holding the spot. It’s more central and fly-on-the-wall-ish.

Photo by Brian Solis

4. As you eat and drink, exude confidence.

Do whatever it takes, a silent mantra, if necessary: “I belong here, I am a part of this afternoon/night, I belong.”

Suddenly, you do belong, you have a place. Spaniards love confidence and honestly. Even if no one is meeting you there or talking to you, you obviously are there for some good reason. That confident look says it all. Relax, soak it up, watch people, take in what they are eating and drinking, what they are wearing and talking about.

In doing this, you expand the sensory experience of these rich, vibrant places.

Photo by Beebe Bahrami

5. When you are done, move on.

Check out the next place that strikes your fancy. Or, locate the perfect spot for dinner and when you are seated, exude the same confident posture and look. It’s infectious.

One last parting word of advice: In the big cities and the really swank and touristy parts of town, always know where your wallet is and don’t have anything on you that can be easily pick-pocketed or that is of great value. This foresight also makes for a more relaxing and enjoyable night out.

Community Connection

For more on Spain, including blogs, local travelers to connect with, local experts to show you around, and volunteer opportunities, please check out Matador’s Spain page.

Feature photo by Son of Groucho. Photo above by that_james.

Photo by icanteachyouhowtodoit.

Last Halloween, I stumbled into the town of Puente la Reina, in Spain’s Navarra region. I had just walked 30 kilometers from Pamplona on the Camino, the pilgrim’s road to Santiago de Compostela.

While leaving Pamplona that morning, I noticed university students had posted flyers all along the roadway announcing a huge Halloween party on campus that night. People were urged to wear outrageous costumes and were enticed by promises of door prizes, strong elixirs, and general good cheer.

By the time I made my way to that night’s camp in tiny Puente la Reina, I was so exhausted that I forgot what day it was… until three miniature ghouls, a witch, and a pumpkin swooshed by.

They were local kids dressed up for the night and they were going from shop and café to shop and café along the main drag in town, which just happened to be the millennia-old pilgrim’s road to Santiago.

In Puente la Reina I learned that while Halloween involves the familiar costumes and trick-or-treating, it all revolves around local food shops and cafes rather than homes. Café and shop owners all had baskets of candies at their doorways, ready for the little ghosts and goblins.

Photo by padesig.

The Old New Halloween in Spain

An import more or less, Halloween is still a pretty new phenomenon in Spain. But the north seems to celebrate it more than the rest of the country, and the reasons are profoundly ancestral.

Many regions in northern Spain claim archaeological evidence for early Celtic-speaking inhabitants who arrived anywhere from 3,000 to 2,500 years ago in Iberia and mixed with the indigenous Iberians, or made their way into remote reaches of the north and northwest and created their own cultural region there.

In these regions today there is a growing Celtic revival that couples with interest in related holidays imported from other Celtic-loving lands.

One is Halloween, better called Samhain, Noche de los Muertos (Night of the Dead), or in the farthest northwest of Galicia, Noite dos Calacús (Night of the Pumpkins). Other Celtic-inspired holidays found in spots in the north are Lughnasad and Beltane, the latter overlapping with summer solstice and St. John’s Day.

While Halloween throughout Spain is mostly celebrated in the manner I discovered in Puente la Reina, there are some communities, such as Cediera along Galicia’s northern coast, where locals carve pumpkins, light bonfires, and imbibe quemadas—the local fire water infused with herbs and set aflame—a proclaimed ancient drink of their Celtic ancestors.

It is linked symbolically to the act of burning off bad luck and clearing dark energies at this dangerous time of year. In these areas you might discover modern-day druids and priestesses taking the “thinning of the veil between worlds” very seriously.

Photo by cesarastudillo.

How to Join the Halloween Festivities in Spain

If you are not in the cities, Halloween really is a children’s holiday. But in the big cities, and especially in the university towns, there are bound to be costume parties with cauldron themes posted about town on walls and lightposts. Most will have some nominal admission fee plus the mandatory costume.

And whether you find yourself in a big town or small, you can always do what the adults do when the 31st rolls around: continue your daily enjoyment of the shops, bars, and cafes over a steaming café con leche or a deep glass of earthy Rioja red to take off the chill as the little devils home from school swirl about.

If you go to Spain during Halloween, be sure to stick around a few more days and take in the more traditional Dia de Todos los Santos (All Saints’ Day). Unlike Halloween, this holiday is more traditional and is observed everywhere in Spain as a time to honor the dead.

People head to cemeteries with magnificent flowers and gather around the tombs as they do in a café, celebrating life and enjoying being there. Afterwards, most head to a café or restaurant or family home to soak up the rest of the afternoon over food, wine, and conversation with family and friends.

Community Connection:

Curious about the ancient pilgrimage mentioned at the start of this article? Check out our Audio Guide to the Camino de Santiago, or this post about lessons learned on the famous trail.

Photo above by judepics. Photo above by Emma and Michael’s Excellent Adventures.

Imagine doing yoga in the great outdoors, surrounded by some of Spain’s tallest mountains. Imagine clean, pine-scented Alpine air mingling with a sultry sea salt breeze infused with orange blossom each time you inhale.

This heady mix exists in Órgiva, 52 kilometers south of Granada, 29 kilometers north of the Mediterranean coast, and set deep in the Alpujarras mountains of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in southern Spain.

Photo by judepics.

Órgiva is a mountain town that, like its Alpine-Mediterranean air, mixes traditional Andalusian and New Age international cultures. The blend is like green tea and mint, olives and sherry, churros and chocolate.

Best of all, Órgiva is home to one of the most earthy and beautifully offered yoga retreats I’ve encountered in my travels, Yoga Under the Sky.

In the heart of such a diverse, New Age, and organic farming scene and town, Yoga Under the Sky is in the perfect setting to offer organized or tailor-made retreat options for one person, couples, or groups.

Set near the Chico River that flows through town, Yoga Under the Sky offers many modalities of yoga styles and a terrific roster of talented, compassionate, and certified yoga teachers and massage therapists.

You can contact Yoga Under the Sky to arrange for an organized retreat (such retreats are on their website) or to create a retreat of your own that will address your and your partner’s particular needs. The staff also suggest great lodging and dining options.

Essentially, Órgiva is the retreat setting and within it are several rural and village houses for week-long stays as well as several all organic, local produce, and regional wine-serving eateries. The town has a vibrant energy and there is a lot happening any day of the week throughout the year.

Photo by diluvi.

Lodging

My favorite place to stay is Casa Rural Jazmin. Though “casa rural” means “rural house,” it is a lovely old stone farmhouse in town that is surrounded by a garden filled with fruit-bearing trees, such as pomegranate and lemon, and a refreshing swimming pool.

Casa Jazmin has four rooms, each with a private bath. The two proprietors are warm and welcoming and every morning they get up early to create a unique, healthy, and homemade breakfast that is often served in the garden.

Rooms for two people, including that breakfast for two, are between 48-70 euros. Given that you are in the heart of town and everything is central, in spite of the wonderful rural feel of the place, you don’t need your own wheels to get here or to stay here.

It’s an easy downhill saunter to yoga sessions, to the bus stop for buses to Granada, Malaga, Motril, or to other Alpujarran destinations, and shops and markets are all within a few hundred yards away in the town center.

Photo by Joi

Organic Dining Out in Órgiva

For such a small town, Órgiva has terrific dining out options that won’t kill your budget. Here you’ll find places where organic, Slow Food, and Buy Local, Buy Fresh drive the standard meal.

Three favorites are Café Libertad, El Limonero, and Café-Tetería Baraka. The latter is a fun hangout run by local Sufis that offers diverse vegetarian cuisine, a variety of tea, as well as other non-alcoholic beverages, including natural fruit juices and smoothies.

Organic Food Markets in Órgiva

Everyday is market day if you go to the central covered market near the Plaza de la Alpujarra in the heart of town. Therein you’ll find the organic farmers, wine makers, bakers, and cheesemakers.

But the highlight is the weekly open-air market on Thursday mornings, on the long, narrow plaza on the northern end of town (the uphill end, near Casa Jazmin).

It’s a riotous and colorful gathering of farmers, clothes-sellers, and craftspeople. Dogs, guitars, and long-haired and short-haired folks alike mingle and embrace their hybrid traditional and alternative ways of living and eating.

Photo by judepics.

Getting There

Getting to Órgiva is easy.

It is 52 kilometers south of Granada. By car, take the A-44/E-902 south of Granada and after 34 kilometers exit east for Lanjarón. Follow signs to Órgiva. Or, just get on a bus in Granada destined for Órgiva, costing fewer than 5 euros one way.

Alternately, Yoga Under the Sky can arrange for a taxi to pick you up at Granada’s airport and deliver you to Órgiva for 50 euros. While this might sound like a lot, it’s a bargain for a private driver and no car rental. Still, the bus is pretty easy.

Adventures Beyond Yoga

Hiking Options:

Take the local bus from Órgiva to Pampaneira, a twenty-minute ride, and hike from the mountain village of Pampaneira to Bubión and on to Capileira. You can either hike back to Pampaneira for the bus, or take the bus from Capileira to Órgiva. In all places, you will find ample cafes for a tapa and refreshment. Beer or chilled fino sherry are favorites. Drink lots of water, too.

Tibetan Retreat:

Consider a silent meditation retreat at the O Sel Ling Tibetan Buddhist retreat, between Órgiva and Pampaneira. If you go as a couple, you will need to do this stint in separate huts and in silence.

Visit Granada:

Photo by pasotraspaso.

Granada is an easy 45-minute bus ride away from Órgiva, so you can make a fun day-trip to the city and soak up the magical Alhambra fortress-palace complex and hit the streets in the old neighborhood of the Albaicin.

Albaicin is filled with vegetarian and organic restaurants, especially along Calle Nueva Calderería, the center of Granada’s alternative, progressive, New Age, Bohemian scene. A day trip can be a boon if you are traveling during the peak summer season, when finding lodging in Granada can be stressful.

Relax, secure a week or two at the Casa Jazmin in Órgiva, do some yoga, eat locally, and unpack just once in your peaceful mountain retreat.

Community Connection!

The author of this article, Beebe, was recently featured in 50 Inspirational Travelers. If you liked Beebe’s guide to Orgiva Yoga, please be sure to read her surf guide to Asturias, a lovely rural section of the Spanish coast.

A chapel and a granary (called an horreo) overlooking surf in western Asturias. Photo by Beebe Bahrami

Asturias is not like other parts of Spain.

Asturias, the province on the northwestern coast of Spain just east of Galicia and west of Cantabria, is a narrow strip of mountains and coast line, creating steep cliff drops to the Atlantic Ocean.

The whole coast is a series of cliffs giving way to scallop-shaped sand or pebble beaches.

A province of misty green mountains, blue waters, bagpipes, prehistoric caves, Bronze Age dolmens, Iron Age Celtic settlements, and pre-Romanesque churches, Asturias is unlike other parts of Spain.

Amidst this ancient smorgasbord, there are dozens of surf spots, some famous but most only known by the locals.

To catch the best waves, you need to travel here in the fall, winter, and spring, which happen to fall in the cheaper off-peak season. There are enough surf spots in Asturias that you can find your own and avoid the localism at the more famous places, like Rodiles and Tapia de Casariego.

Asturians are both sophisticated and earthy people. It is a land of human-scale cities and many, many rural villages set in rolling green hills with views of the big blue Atlantic.

The Picos de Europa, one of Europe’s best preserved natural mountainous areas, sits as a backdrop. City, village, coastline, and mountain are all interconnected by new roads and old footpaths.

It’s the footpaths that are fascinating. At first you may not even see them. I didn’t until I asked for directions many times from locals and kept getting these organic responses with shortcuts through fields and passages along narrow worn paths.

That was when I realized the world of paved roads was secondary to locals. For a surfer, what these footpaths indicate is that the more challenging access to beaches pretty much clears out rabble rousers who might crowd the waters if access were easier.

The true soul surfer can find his or her sweet spot pretty much unmolested.

Searching for Surf near Llanes. Beebe

How

Part of the fun of surfing in Asturias is discovering the foot paths that lead to little-known surf spots. I’ve been exploring surf in Asturias for over ten years and have found the best ones through patient exploration into wonderfully wild terrain.

I first go out for exploratory walks along footpaths, asking locals for their expertise as I go. Sometimes I’ll fall into a path serendipitously. And sometimes paths are a dead end at a cliff drop, a mislead forged by the ubiquitous free range goats who also use the paths to get to their own slice of nirvana.

Over the years of trekking and surf hunting in Asturias, through trial and error, I’ve also unearthed three indispensable books that help me unearth the wild reality of Asturias, her footpaths and her surf spots. (They are noted below.)

Having located your access route, checked the surf, and talked to the locals for their invaluable local knowledge, you can fall into a joyous rhythm of coming and going from the surf to the village where you’re staying and to the local cafes and restaurants.

Food & Drink

The Spanish are fierce believers in the basic human right to eat and drink well. They are gregarious and generous people and their villages often have no less than four bars and cafes, even in a population of 300 or less.

The offering gets bigger and headier the bigger the town. In all contexts, the food is always locally procured, fresh, delicious, and affordable. You save a lot of money but get the same quality by ordering the fixed price menus (menus del dia), which are three courses (a starter, an entrée, and dessert), often for around 10-12 euros, including wine and bread.

Asturias is in apple country and produces hard cider, called sidra, a crisp, dry, frothy, apple and sun infused elixir. And because wine country is not far away, including the famous Rioja wine country, really good wine is madly affordable.

Villages across the country, including in Asturias, have weekly open air markets, a good time to see what the locals produce as well as purchase fresh, often organic provisions for eating in and picnicking out.

Playa de San Martin

One of my favorite spots is Playa de San Martin.

Just west of the fishing town of Llanes in eastern Asturias, San Martin can be reached only via footpaths from the village of Celorio.

San Martin is set amidst a cliff that opens to an expansive sandy beach with giant stone formations carved by the ocean. It is a beach break that picks up the swell well and is best at low tide. Winds come in from the south, southeast, and sometimes northeast. Waves are rapid and ridable with variable peaks.

Localism is nearly nonexistent even though this is a beloved spot among surfers from Llanes. If you go, act like a good guest so that localism will remain low here. (The fact holds that most localism in northern Spain emerges from arrogant behavior from visitors and as such incites a local counter-response…)

After a session in the water and climbing up the cliff path that got you there, head back to Celorio’s village beach and enjoy frothy beers and local tapas at the beachside café.

Recommended Tapas

Calamares, shrimp sautéed in garlic (gambas al ajillo), chorizo in cider (chorizo a la sidra), and when in season, little fried green peppers with sea salt (pimientos de Padrón).

Green Note

Most Asturians are environmentalists who love their wild places. Villages and towns have clusters of bins that are for recycling and for trash. Use them.

Respect the wild and human places alike. Asturians are very warm people and if you act with warmth and respect, you will find yourself quickly adopted and will find the life so serene and complete that you’ll be hard pressed to leave.

Camping Sites and Surf Shops

Called “Campings” these sites are sprinkled throughout Asturias. The Guía del Surf listed below tells you when a surf spot is near a camping site. It also lists surf shops and rentals near different spots.

Fishing town, Llanes, eastern Asturias. Beebe

Renting a Rural House

Better than camping, I think, is renting a rural apartment or farmhouse, which in the off-season can be remarkably cheap and much drier and warmer than camping: Asturias is famous for rain in all seasons.

Once you settle on the part of Asturias’ coastline you want to explore (I recommend the area around Ribadesella and Llanes), you can explore the local rentals via http://en.toprural.com: select Asturias and go in more locally from there.

These sites list rural rental properties by type and price and number of occupants. Each listing shows what it is and tells you how the owner wants to do business. Some owners want an advance deposit while others trust you’ll show up and pay on arrival (so it’s a good idea to do so!). These places often break down to 35-80 euros a day for two to four people.

Top Rural also lists albergues, which are dormitory-style accommodations in rural areas as well as towns. Costing around 8-20 euros a night, these can be bargains for a dry bunk and a great way to meet people.

One-star hotels, hostels, and pensiones can also be bargains in the off-season. Most family run, clean, and simple hostels run from 30-55 euros a night for a double. Spanish standards for cleanliness are pretty high so it is a great rarity to find a cheap place that looks it.

Local Buses and Trains

The main local bus company is ALSA and their buses go pretty much everywhere in Asturias. If you need to get to a little village near the bus route, just tell the driver and he’ll pull over at the nearest stop to your destination.

The website for ASLA only shows timetables for long trips. The more local ones are best discovered at the town bus stations or at village bus stops. www.alsa.es.

FEVE, the regional train, is a delightful choochoo with room at one end or the other of its two linked cars for boards and bikes. It runs along the coast from Bilbao in the east to Ferrol in the west. You can find the timetables and destinations at their website. www.feve.es/html.

Both ALSA and FEVE run from Asturias’ main cities (Gijón, Oviedo, and Avilés) to the countryside and coast.

Those Three Precious Books for Trekking and Surfing in Asturias:

1. Aeroguía del Litoral Cantabria y Asturias, published by Editorial Planeta, 1999. It now comes in a cheap pocket size version (bolsillo) and is a terrific photographic guide of aerial shots of the entire coastline. It helps locate beaches, their contours and breaks, and if you look closely, the footpaths meandering along the coast. It costs around 11.50 euros.

2. Guía del Surf en España by José Pellón.

This is a great resource for what beaches are good for surfing, where the camping sites and surf shops are, and what each surf spot’s conditions are. Online it goes for anywhere between 18.50 to 24.50 euros.

3. Guía de las Playas de Asturias by Javier Chao Arana.

This little book is packed with terrific detailed information on each of the hundreds of beaches in Asturias.

It breaks it down to a page per beach, going over each place’s physical characteristics, water quality, sports activities, access, camping grounds, and food establishments. It costs around 12 euros.

Okay, so they’re all in Spanish. But surf and water talk is practically an international language and English speakers with a little Spanish dictionary will get lots of information out of these.

The information in these books is invaluable regarding trekking and surfing the local terrain. Some good online sources for these books are: www.casadelibro.com; www.librerianautica.com; and www.agapea.com.

You can also find them on the ground, in bookstores (librerias) and surf shops in Asturias.

On a remote footpath in eastern Asturias, looking at the Picos de Europa. Photo by Beebe

Two Parting Tips

The tide is dramatic in Asturias so be prepared for dramatic water level changes. In some places, the beach entrance will be completely under water and altered at high tide. Stay aware of the tides.

If you really want to surf Rodiles and Tapia de Casariego, these tips still apply. But be forewarned, if you are going to paddle out when that river mouth left at Rodiles is tubing and the locals are there, you better be damn good and not waste their time when it’s your turn.

Know the rules of the water and uphold them for yourself even if others don’t. Be impeccable. And if you’re not good enough to be out there, get out of the way and surf the smaller but fun stuff peeling down the beach (that’s where you’ll find me).

Community Connection!

Besides Beebe, Matador surfers now living in Spain include Doug, who prefers dirt to pavement and is based in Barcelona, and the immortal Punchy, a native of Hawaii who currently bunks in Madrid. Akmonki wrote some sweet blogs about her recent bike trip along the Spanish coast, including You Never Know What You’re Capable Of Until You’ve Tried It.

For more info. on Spain, check out these articles from the Matador network:

Pueblo Ingles: Possibly the Best Volunteer Opportunity in Spain

Where in SPAIN Should I Study Abroad?

Top 5 Festivals In Spain

For other knowledgeable and detailed surf guides to places reminiscent of The Endless Summer, check out Matador’s surf guides:

Mar del Plata, Argentina

Byron’s Bay, Australia

Vietnam

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