{"id":5003,"date":"2024-05-25T07:52:59","date_gmt":"2024-05-25T07:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=5003"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:26:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:26:47","slug":"3-mr-and-mrs-oviedo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=5003","title":{"rendered":"3. MR AND MRS OVIEDO."},"content":{"rendered":"

Six years ago, in 2018, the other side of the temporal gulf, known colloquially as “Covid”, we met Mr and Mrs Oviedo.\u00a0 Of course that isn’t their real name.\u00a0 (They are now very good friends, but we didn’t really know them at the time.)\u00a0 They got the nickname for deserting their caravan for a couple of days to visit Oviedo.\u00a0 A city some 130 kms to the West of Oyambre.\u00a0 A city which appears not to be served by a single camp site.\u00a0 Hard to believe, but this IS Spain, not France.\u00a0 So they recklessly abandoned their caravan on pitch 615 and booked a hotel in the city and left us waterlogged on a nearby pitch!\u00a0 How irresponsible!<\/p>\n

Well, we are sitting on pitch 615 now.\u00a0 With a week of wet weather forecast.\u00a0 We’ve never visited Oviedo.\u00a0 It’s looking like better weather over there.\u00a0 So we do the totally RESPONSIBLE thing and book a couple of nights at the Exe Oviedo Centro Hotel.\u00a0 \u00a0I say responsible.\u00a0 \u00a0We turned off the gas and heating, and we left our neighbours in charge of a camper AND a caravan.\u00a0 They really entered into the spirit of things.\u00a0 They told other nearby campers that we had broken down at distance and would be back in a day or so.\u00a0 As soon as the car was fixed.<\/p>\n

I narrowly missed booking a Parador in Gij\u00f3n by mistake.\u00a0 I was looking for a Parador in Oviedo and was directed to one in Gij\u00f3n.\u00a0 There isn’t one where we wanted to be, and this was the nearest.\u00a0 Luckily I realised just in time that we would be at least 30 kms from where we wanted to be and didn’t book it.\u00a0 As a consolation, I promised to take Glenda for an executive coffee there en route to Oviedo.\u00a0 By the way, we have always pronounced Gij\u00f3n more or less as it looks with a “G” as in Glenda and a “J” as in John.\u00a0 No chance!\u00a0 This is Spain after all!\u00a0 The nearest I can come to the local pronunciation is “Hee-honn”.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we arrived at the Parador Nacional El Molino Viejo, it looked totally closed for the winter, or the year … or forever.\u00a0 However, it transpired that we were trying to get in the back door which just happens to be on the front.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fortunately the front door (round the side) was open for business.\u00a0 Two excellent coffees, beautifully served and at a very reasonable price!<\/p>\n

The beach is only a few hundred metres walk away through the Parque de Isabel La Cat\u00f3lica.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A lovely park with pergolas, rose-covered walkways and a lake with two black swans, dozens of ducks and a crocodile!\u00a0 And, in the trees behind, hundreds of roosting egrets.\u00a0 This close-up shows them slightly better.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The beach was backed by a fairly ugly collection of apartment buildings.\u00a0 Not for us.\u00a0 So a quick photo …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… and we headed back to the car.\u00a0 It was starting to rain anyway!<\/p>\n

And so to Oviedo.\u00a0 The recommended access route to our hotel was from the A66 into the South of the city.\u00a0 Seemed odd ‘cos the hotel is located to the north of the city centre.\u00a0 We had a bit of a heated discussion about this, Glenda, me and the sat nav.\u00a0 Let’s just say we all had different views about the route.\u00a0 In the end we compromised.\u00a0 I turned off on the wrong road.\u00a0 Glenda “requested” the hotel’s route be reinstated.\u00a0 The sat nav got us to junction 29 of the A66 and “Glen nav” took over with oral instructions.\u00a0 I did take the wrong exit from one busy roundabout (perverse to the end!).\u00a0 This was corrected by a right, right, right and right again!\u00a0 “Now just take the pesky road I tell you to take!”<\/p>\n

Generally speaking, I find the car’s navigation lady is much more polite!\u00a0 And totally unflappable.\u00a0 But, and I have to admit this, often not completely right!\u00a0 Sometimes disastrously wrong!\u00a0 Glen nav has had to intervene on several occasions to stop me towing the caravan over narrow mountain roads!<\/p>\n

Anyway we got to the Exe Oviedo Centro Hotel and sunk the car half a mile underground in their car park and left it there for the duration!<\/p>\n

The city is very “walkable”.\u00a0 However, getting from the hotel (our room marked) …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… to the cathedral …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… in the advertised 10 minutes would be a challenge!\u00a0 Especially as the direct route takes you right through the retail zone!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Well, if I said there were 2,000 shops selling useful stuff like dresses, shoes, spectacles and trousers, it wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration!\u00a0 I probably won’t even be allowed to say that anyway!\u00a0 (Well, that did slip past the sub-editor!)<\/p>\n

First things first!\u00a0 We need food.\u00a0 The Mes\u00f3n La Comtienda was recommended by the extremely helpful hotel receptionists.\u00a0 It lived up to its reputation.\u00a0 The starters would be meals in their own right at home!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A lovely mixed salad with chicken and a “stretchy cheese” concoction.<\/p>\n

Some of the buildings and interiors in town:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Inside the Catedral de San Salvador.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Puerta de Cimadevilla.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Heladeria Puerta Real – a speciality icecream emporium!\u00a0 My kind of shop!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Oviedo Town Hall from the Plaza de la Constituci\u00f3n.\u00a0 Just like Brixham Town Hall, not!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Basilica de San Juan el Real outside …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… and in.<\/p>\n

During a brief shopping interlude, I broke away for a walk in and around the central park, the Campo de San Francisco.\u00a0 Where I found this Roman church, the Iglesia de San Isidoro.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There was a sign saying BYO umbrella because, while the doorway was mainly finished, they hadn’t got the roof sorted yet – nor the walls come to that!<\/p>\n

Other more recent, spectacular buildings included:\u00a0 The administrative centre for the Pricipality of Asturias …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… more of the administrative offices across the street …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… and Starbucks HQ!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We ate lunch on the second day in a cider bar, in Sidrer\u00eda Tierra Astur, in the “cider zone”.\u00a0 This is a group of streets on the northern edge of the historic centre.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But why do they insist on pouring the cider from such a great height?\u00a0 I guess by spilling lots, they get to sell more cider!\u00a0 How cynical!\u00a0 Actually, the waiter is performing “escanciado”.<\/p>\n

According to the Internet, a proper Asturian cider pour is captured at the top of the inside of the glass, held at about a 45-degree angle. It\u2019s the collision of liquid on glass that promotes liveliness and effervescence in the beverage. Traditionally, Asturian cider is drunk in “culines” (gulp-sized servings), so a proper pour needs only to be a mouthful\u2019s worth, not a full glass.<\/p>\n

I still think it’s a way to sell more (flat) cider!<\/p>\n

An interesting couple of days in the central and historic parts of the city.\u00a0 We aren’t really ” city people”, but this was a good visit.\u00a0 Now for the complications of getting back to base.\u00a0 Why is nothing ever simple on our travels?<\/span><\/p>\n

By the way, I fibbed about the crocodile!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Six years ago, in 2018, the other side of the temporal gulf, known colloquially as “Covid”, we met Mr and Mrs Oviedo.\u00a0 Of course that isn’t their real name.\u00a0 (They are now very good friends, but we didn’t really know… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-and-france-2024"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5003"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5432,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5003\/revisions\/5432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}