Travel Spain: Asturias -- Nature's Paradise: Oviedo and Gijon

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• published: 30 Jun 2010
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After my brief early morning photo safari around the old downtown of Oviedo on May 25, 2010, I met my local expert tour guide, Liliana Ausin, who started to introduce me to the capital of Asturias. Liliana is an expert on Asturian history and culture. We first drove up a picturesque mountain to see two of Oviedo's famous pre-Romanesque churches: San Miguel del Lillo and the even more well-known Santa Maria del Naranco church, which was originally a royal palace of the Asturian kings. Built in 848 AD, this shrine was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 and is one of Oviedo's most important heritage sites. Our tour continued back in the city where we had a look at the brand new convention centre that is currently being built according to designs by famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. On our walk downtown we ran into the festivities of La Balesquida, also called "Martes del Campo" (Tuesday in the Country) and followed a series of musical groups from the cathedral to the Campo de San Francisco Park. I got introduced to Asturian bowling ("bolos" -- where the balls are through through air) and the famous spicy sausage rolls of Asturias and a "carbayon", Oviedo's typical almond pastry. The entire town was out celebrating on this special holiday. In the afternoon Liliana met me in Gijon, a city of about 270,000 people that is located on the coastline of Asturias and less than half an hour from Oviedo. An important coastal city and the largest city in Asturias, it has been settled for many thousands of years and was an important regional city already during Roman times. Liliana took me to the Laboral City of Culture, located on the campus of the University Laboral of Gijon. This extensive university complex was built in the mid 20th century and inspired by historic architectural styles. We even went up the impressive La Laboral Tower which stands almost 130 metres high and offers amazing 360 degrees views of the area surrounding Oviedo. We capped off our visit with a stop at the historic Cimadevilla fishing village.