Saturday, October 6, 2007

The Asturian Shoemaker.

I tried something different today. I am posting a video,(sure hope it works for everyone as I shrunk it down as far as I could for faster downloading.) ANYWAY... The madreñe is a wooden shoe worn for centuries by the Asturian. I have never tried to walk in a pair of these as I am a "flat lander" accustomed to sneakers or tennis shoes. People really do wear these, my in laws each have a pair that they wear in the garden( its a really big garden) Work madreñes are very plain and usually mud covered. Sunday or dress madreñes are polished and painted and carved quite beautifully. I purchased a pair of these shoes in a shoe store sold right alongside 200 euro Spanish leather shoes. I took this short video when Fernando and Chari took me to a mountain fiesta so high up in the mountain's that my ears popped for hours! FYI these shoes sell for about $20 Not bad for handmade eh?

1 comment:

Karina said...

That is so cool! $20? Wow, for such workmanship, that's impressive.

I wonder how comfortable they are to walk in...