Asturias. Ovideo. Two places I’d never even heard of until we found cheap Ryanair flights there a month or so ago. And in the time between booking and visiting, that frequency illusion malarky hit hard and I couldn’t stop reading about it in magazines, seeing adverts for the place at bus stops and being hounded by instagram reels showing ‘a day in Europe’s latest top spot.’ Famed for being “Spain’s new gastronomic capital”, let’s just say my expectations were high.
They say you only get one chance to make a first impression and Oviedo certainly fell foul of this curse. Making our way from the bus stop in the rather insalubrious outskirts of the city to our hotel in the pouring rain was not the arrival we’d expected. But on the flip-side, it set the bar low, so in the few hours of sun we were graced with on the final day, our perspective flipped entirely and we spent the morning laughing about how unfair we’d been to the poor place and what a fine city it actually was! Fickle? Neverrrr
But it’s not just the weather which marred our impression of what is probably a very fine city. Famed for its cider, cheese, meat and beans, Oviedo is supposedly home to some of Spain’s best food. Perhaps my palate is at fault, but I just can’t agree that a bowl of watery beans with bits of fatty sausage floating around in it is a ‘gastronomic wonder’. And the cider was another story in itself... The best meals we had that weekend were a roadside pizza after an epic, torrential hike and a sushi success in one of Oviedo’s newest additions to the 'foodie scene'.
But onto the highlights, because there were many! One of these has to be our hike up to Oviedo’s Christ the Redeemer lookalike on top of a rather large hill/mountain. It was the third day and we’d woken up to the usual pelting of raindrops on the hotel roof. Having already explored the city’s many churches and single museum, we concluded, as you do, that our only option was to go up the mountain looming over the city and reach the statue which looked like a tiny lego figure from where we were.
So up we went, along a twisting mountain road, cars passing, filled with confused passengers who were clearly questioning our life decisions for us. After a quick google of what to do in the event of a bear attack, we stuck off the road and joined a near-vertical stone path up into the woods. Having survived both wildlife and gradient thus far, it was another few kilometres along the top of the hill to reach the huge Sacred Heart of Jesus Monument. I can’t comment on the view, because there was none (see pics), but I will say that it was pretty cool to stand at the feet of this colossal structure.
Photo evidence secured, we hit the road once again and scrambled back down to the city and to our best meal of the trip - deep dish pizza in a cafe by the bus stop.
Cudilerro, a little seaside town, was also on our itinerary for the weekend. Having passed a few pilgrims trekking the camino, we wound down to the pretty run down but potentially charming (?) coastal town. I’d optimistically packed my swim stuff of course but it wasn’t the raging clouds which defeated me, but the lack of beach. I think maybe a car is key if you’re set on swimming in Asturias!
And now at last, onto the real highlight of our trip - the two cathedral-dwellers we met by chance each evening on our rounds of the old town in search of sustenance. On the first day, as we looped round Oviedo’s cathedral we came across some steps, so naturally climbed them. At the top, there was a little sign welcoming us to the cathedral’s bakery and detailing all the various types of biscuits made by the nuns who live there. After a brief conversation (thanks to our non-existent Spanish) with the charming nun on the other side of the hatch, she rooted in one of the many huge biscuit-filled boxes behind her and passed us some shortbread shells (symbol of the Camino).
Our second sacred encounter followed the next evening when we ventured into another of Oviedo’s churches, just as it was being locked up by the caretaker. Speaking hardly a word of Spanish between us, we went for a mix of guess work and broken italian, resulting in “no, siamo iglesias” on being asked if we spoke Spanish. This produced a gentle grin (which we later realised was because we’d boldly said: “no, we are churches!”). But our denial, and plain evidence, of zero language skills didn’t seem to faze the old caretaker and he proceeded to give us a half hour long tour of the church, and adjacent school, in speedy Spanish. Both parties chose to ignore the previous question and we happily responded “si, si, que bonita!” to anything and everything he said.
So although Oviedo may be prone to rain and pretty rank food, the unCONVENTional bakery, charming church caretaker and epic mountain hike (views or no views) are enough to keep Spain, or at least other parts of Spain, on my bucket list!
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