Sunday, September 27, 2026

24 September 2026 Gijon: The Botanical Gardens




We brought our lunches over to the gardens.  We found a nice shady spot and sat on a bench and ate in serene tranquility.  The gardens were built in the 1860's and incorporated many of the aspects of the great European gardens.  The designer traveled extensively through Europe to see what has been done and what could be done in the new garden.  There is a circulating watercourse that winds throughout the garden supplying water to ponds and irrigation channels.  It was funded by an industrialist with some radical ideas for his time, a reverence for nature and the the understanding that all classes of people need a refuge from the hustle and bustle of city life.



Little blue flowere


Water striders


A sweet little brook


The gardens were located next to a large campus and theater complex


Dragon fly


This clock tower is towering at over 120 meters tall


Some bonsai


Who is that in the portal?


Holly trees


A large ceramic mural


Intertwined fish


The forest area


Big trees


A lovely canopy fintering the light


A silly topiary


Next door was a large building that was part of the gardens but it was closed off


This statue is growing


A little hut


It was


Very cool tilework


The founder! 


Boats are never far away


Great bridges 


Rock walls and flowers


A burst of color


Two buildings were dubbed the food factory.  They told the story of food from neolithic times, see above, to modern times


Some fancy shoes


Grinding grains


To make bread which is less perishible


The progression from the original banana to the modern one


Crab apples to modern apples


The mighty pepper


Olives


Who might this be?


The progression of maize


Bees!


They have a tunnel to the outside


Trumpets


A vegitable garden


Lettuce


It was getting hot, a bit hot for the locals


The apple trees were planted in a mound


A hay stack


Back in our neighborhood we see a frenchie coolong off




    It has been 4 years and 111 days since we began our Migration

24 September 2026 Gijon: The Peoples of Asturia Museum Part 2

 


The fourth building had an exhibit of photographs taken between 1933 and 1968.  The black and white portraits spoke to both of us.  We imagined the lives and the emotions of the subjects.  The fifth building had more bagpipes in one place than I have ever seen.  From simple bone flutes to pag pipes with a seperate bellows, to bagpipes made from old fabric, to bagpipes filled made from and made to look like a small goat!  We then visited the cider house, the peasant house, a few graineries, a large area for functions and a local Asturian bowling arena.  This type of bowling had nine tall and skinny pins arranged in three rows of three pins and a palm sized hand held wooden ball,


Stark reality


The tools of the trade, a scythe and a basket


Coal miner's brother


Kids will be kids


Grumpy men


Heis wearing traditional wooden shoes that have knobby bottoms


Pretty fancy c;llothes


Fish in a bucket


The bagpipe display


Older ones with a single spindle


A little goat pabpite


The bellows is on the left side


Another goat with a big bellows


This looks like it was an old dress before it became a bagpipe


This one has all the attachments


A golden one and a find checkered pattern


This shows the extent of all the bagpipes in this room


Other local instruments, the accordian


Castanettes 


The Hurdy Gurdy


Traditional the hurdy gurdy was played by blind men who also sold the odd pamphlet ot two.  This one was the history of the chapeau 


Early players and radios


Playing the mouth harp


Is this the same man playing from the picture above?


A communal granery


Varmints could not get up the legs and into the grainery 


A peasant house


Very tight quarters


A big building dedicated to making cider


It was the biggest building on the grounds


Huge beams used to press the apples


Some discussion ensued as to how the press worked


Slats on the roof


An event was being prepared


A bowling arena


the launching pad for the bowling


An electric vespa




    It has been 4 years and 111 days since we began our Migration