Oviedo and Gijon, Spain - July 2014

For our anniversary we took a long weekend trip to Oviedo.  I have wanted to visit Oviedo because of a movie that I love, Vicky Christina Barcelona.  In this movie they take a romantic trip here and it made me want to go too.  So I knew that even before we moved here it would be a place I needed to see. It ended up not being as much like the movie as I hoped, but it never is.  We took the train here and that was a beautiful trip.  Three and a half hours of mountain views and other inspiring landscape.  I don’t remember exactly how much it cost but it was probably close to 30 or 40 euros each. 

  View from the train

We stayed in a hotel not far from a huge gorgeous park and very close to downtown.  We spent a lot of that first day just roaming the streets, parks and checking out the churches.  So the movie that inspired me to come here is a Woody Allen film.  I do not always like him but when he does something right it’s definitely right.  Anyhow he has said that Oviedo is one of his favourite places in Spain which is why parts of the film took place there.  A statue of him with the quote “Oviedo is a delicious city, nice, clean, pleasant and quiet…it is as if it did not belong to this world… as if out of a fairy tale…” stands just outside of the large park near our hotel.

 Cathedral downtown Oviedo

 Cathedral next to our hotel

Random naked bird lady statue

It was a much bigger and more metropolitan city than we were expecting but did not feel like just another big city.  It was, as many towns here are, very charming with a feeling that you could escape there and be happy.  We found some great Indian food (Indian food is what we search for when we go to a new place) for our actual anniversary dinner and enjoyed some delicious wine.  One of our nights in the hotel we were too exhausted to get dressed up and go out for dinner so instead we ordered room service and it was hands down the best room service I have ever had.  There were not many vegetarian options so we just decided to be gross and we had French fries and onions rings and milkshakes, also a salad to make it a more balanced meal.  It was awesome.  We had an amazing view from our hotel room of the cathedral and at night when the moon was behind it I really felt like we were somewhere special.

One of our days we decided to hop on a bus and head to the coast to a town called Gijon.  It was a half hour trip and well worth it.  As I have mentioned I love the ocean so anytime we can enjoy it is a good time.  There wasn’t a whole lot going on in the city that any city doesn't have but we certainly enjoyed walking the cliffs near the water and then wandering along the beach with chilly water up to our knees and just being in love for our special weekend.

 Sweet smell of the ocean...how I have missed you

Streets of Gijon

It rained a lot on our last day before catching our train so we did not do much sightseeing.  We sat in some cool cafes and drank coffee and did take a bit of a wander up to an old church but we couldn't get in.  It was a beautiful romantic weekend and I am thrilled we got to go to Oviedo even if it wasn't at all what I was expecting.  

 Rainy days are my favourite, however do make sightseeing a challenge...

We still managed to see some beautiful things despite the showers