Oviedo is only a small city, only just scraping into the top twenty largest cities in Spain and it isn’t even the largest in Asturias so it didn’t take that long to walk around the historical centre and after a brief stay we continued our drive south.
Posted in Cantabria, Cathedrals, El Cid, Europe, Food, History, Literature, Natural Environment, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Asturias, Cantabrian Mountains, Castilla y Leon, Culture, Life, Lyon, Mountains, Oviedo
Oviedo is only a small city, only just scraping into the top twenty largest cities in Spain and it isn’t even the largest in Asturias so it didn’t take that long to walk around the historical centre and soon there was only one thing left to do – visit the Cathedral.
The building was severely damaged during the Spanish Civil War when the conflict more or less started here and there was fierce Nationalist oppression inflicted by General Franco but it has been restored now and has been returned to its former medieval grandeur.
Posted in Cantabria, Cathedrals, Europe, History, Literature, Natural Environment, Portugal, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Asturias, Castilla y Leon, Cudicillo, Culture, Life, Oviedo, Photography
Click on an image to scroll through the pictures…
Posted in Arts and Crafts, Cathedrals, Europe, History, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Alicante, Burgos, cor, Guardamar del Segura, León, Madrid, matador, Oviedo, Salamanca, Street Art, Street Statues
Posted in Beaches, Cantabria, Cathedrals, Europe, Food, History, Literature, Natural Environment, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Asturias Postcards, Basque Country, Bilbao, Cantabria, Galicia, Oviedo, Santiago de Compostela, Santillana de Mar
“And so to the great Cathedrals of Spain, Romanesque, Traditional, Gothic or Renaissance, which are the flower of the Spanish constructions and which for the world outside generally epitomises the Spanish presence, As the Skyscrapers are to New York, the Cathedrals are to Spain” – Jan Morris, ‘Spain’
Granada, Andalucia
Segovia, Castilla y Leon
Palencia, Castilla y Leon
Burgos, Castilla y Leon
Siguenza, Castilla-la Mancha
Cordoba, Andalucia
Girona, Catalonia
Santiago de Compostela, Galicia
Seville, Andalucia
León, Castilla y Leon
Oviedo, Asturias
Malaga, Andalucia
Madrid
Posted in Cathedrals, Europe, History, Literature, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Burgos, Cathedral of Siguenza, Cordoba, Girona, Granada, León, Malaga, Oviedo, palencia, Salamanca, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Spain Cathedrals
My immediate assessment of Oviedo was that it seemed confident and relaxed and the honey coloured stone of the Plaza Mayor was welcoming and friendly except that is for the ever-present gipsy beggars with their gnarled and twisted faces like characters from a Goya painting who hang around outside cathedral doors and pester people for money as they go come and go. Personally I find these people to be a downright nuisance and I don’t understand why the authorities don’t simply move them on.
Posted in El Cid, Europe, History, Spain, Travel
Tagged Asturias, Castilla y Leon, Cudicillo, Culture, Life, Oviedo, Photography, Street Beggars, Weekly Photo Challenge
Palencia, Castilla y Leon
Burgos, Castilla y Leon
Siguenza, Castilla-la Mancha
Cordoba, Andalucia
Girona, Catalonia
Santiago de Compostela, Galicia
Seville, Andalucia
León, Castilla y Leon
Oviedo, Asturias
Posted in Cathedrals, Europe, History, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Burgos, Cathedral of Siguenza, Cordoba, Girona, León, Oviedo, palencia, Salamanca, Santiago de Compostela, Seville, Spain Cathedrals
This was the final stage of the long journey and we kept stubbornly to the coast road and took our time as we stopped off regularly at beaches along the way.
The first that we came to was just outside of the town of Llanes and we took the road which swooped down to Playa de Toro which translates as the beach of bulls and although I can find no explanation for this I assumed that it was on account of the natural sculptures, little pronounced pinnacles – rocky outcroppings leaping up out of the caramel sand, skeletal survivors of the erosion action of the sea on calcareous rock and which, with a little imagination could be said to resemble a herd of black bulls charging into the surf.
Posted in Beaches, Cantabria, Cathedrals, El Cid, Europe, Food, History, Natural Environment, Postcards, Spain, World Heritage
Tagged Asturias, Asturias Postcards, Cantabria, Culture, Life, Llanes, Oviedo, Playa de Toro, Ribadella, Spain postcards
Leaving Oviedo was very straight forward as we made our way out of the city and towards the Autovia that would take us almost directly south – only almost directly because first we had to pass through the mountains, or more specifically the Montes de León which are a western section of the Cantabrian mountains that form a natural geographical border between Asturias and Castilla y León.
Posted in Cantabria, Cathedrals, El Cid, Europe, Galicia, History, Natural Environment, Spain, Travel
Tagged Asturias, Cantabrian Mountains, Castilla y Leon, Culture, Life, Lyon, Mountains, Oviedo
On day three our objective was to leave the northern coast of Asturias and drive into Castilla y León with plans to visit the major cities of the region but first we would be visiting the capital city of Asturias – Oviedo.
After breakfast we settled up with the owner of the hotel, Santiago, and he invited us to return and with what I thought was a very nice touch he said that we should henceforth consider his hotel to be our home in Spain.
Posted in Cantabria, Cathedrals, El Cid, Europe, History, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Asturias, Cudicillo, Culture, Life, Oviedo, Photography
Have Bag, Will Travel 