We hired a car at the airport in A Coruña and drove through Galicia and some of Asturias. The rolling hills we passed by were dotted with wind turbines and the sea was always visible on the horizon. We stopped for two nights in Aviles in another NH Collection hotel on the Plaza España.
The Hotel was a former palace built in the mid 17th century. The Spanish Royal Family used to stay here when they were in town. The building was converted into a hotel and opened in 2003. The concierge gave the boys a walking map of the city with some of the sights to see and we used that to explore town. Behind the hotel was Ferrera Park which was the former royal park of the palace. The buildings around town were bright and colourful. Many streets were lined with arcaded buildings and glazed balconies. It was a relaxed and friendly town.
The walking tour started at the tourist office, a former prison built from the bricks of the medieval walls. It also brought us to St Anthony’s church, the oldest building in Avilés. Inside the church we saw the tomb of Pedro Menéndez, an admiral and explorer from Avilés who founded St Augustine, an old European settlement, in Florida. The boys liked the fountain of Los Canos, a 400 year old water fountain with several heads spitting out water. We sat and enjoyed some cheese and chorizo near the Hórreo, an Asturias granary where cereals and agricultural products were stored elevated from the ground to protect from animals and moisture.
We had some nice meals in Avilés. The first night we went to La Casa De Lín. It was a cider bar and smelled strongly when we entered from the street. Everyone was drinking cider and there was a special way to pour and enjoy the drink. The waiters were pouring the cider from a height into glasses to aerate it. The floor was scattered with sawdust to soak up stray drops. We decided to try some, it was good and at €2.90 a bottle, a bargain. While there we spotted some photos on the walls and it turned out that this was a bar in which Anthony Bourdain had made a show. We weren’t as brave in our food choices but still enjoyed some local specials.
The next night we went to another cider bar, Tierra Astur. The interior was all wooden slats and it felt like we were sitting in a giant cider barrel. There were cider bottle chandeliers hanging from the ceilings and again the cider was free flowing.
Interesting to see crates of cider bottles stacked high behind the bar. And legs of meat hanging from the ceilings alongside the cider bottle chandeliers.
Next morning after a nice buffet breakfast and a quick run around in the playground we headed for Oviedo. The capital of Asturias was only 30 mins away by car. The hotel wasn’t quite ready to accommodate us when we arrived so we left our bags, parked the car and went for a walk around town, it was a pretty town centre with lots of red tiled roofs and sculptures everywhere. The hotel was near to the main shopping streets and the gothic cathedral in the medieval old town.
We had fun spotting some cool statues as we wandered around town. We saw horses, mothers & babies, Woody Allen and a travelling man with a lot of suitcases. Woody Allen was so taken with the city that he termed it a fairytale and he directed his movie “Vicky Christina Barcelona” here in 2008 with Oviedo becoming a Barcelona suburb.
The Gothic Cathedral of San Salvador lies along the Camino del Norte and is a major stop for pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. It was built in the late 13th century and has now been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Housed within the 18th century Velarde Palace, next door to the Cathedral is the Fine Arts Museum. It has the largest public collection of art in Asturias. There are over 8000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings, photography and industrial art. We saw some paintings by Miro and Dali and also enjoyed the building they were housed in.
Calle Gascona in Oviedo is known as “cider boulevard” and while a bit touristy it has several restaurants and bars. We went there for dinner in La Finca. Another cider bar where dinner wasn’t served till eight, still getting used to this custom.
En route to Santander we stopped at Picos De Europa. The village of Cangas de Onís was bustling and much bigger than we expected. We drove ten minutes up the mountain to Covadonga, a major pilgrimage destination and gateway to the national park. Santa Cueva de Covadonga is a cliffside cave sanctuary with a Romanesque chapel. The cathedral is stunningly situated in a deep green forested valley, next to the sacred cave and waterfall.
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