Asturias Travel: Pre-Romanesque
Art at Santa María del Naranco and La Balesquida
- a Big Festival in Oviedo
After a much needed restful sleep on my
arrival day at the Barcelo Oviedo Cervantes
Hotel, I woke up early at 7 am and was ready for
my first full day in Asturias, a beautiful region
in the north of Spain that offers a combination
of high mountains and ocean. During the morning
I was planning to get to know the capital, Oviedo,
in a walking tour with local culture and tourism
expert, Liliana Ausín, who had been selected
for me by Turismo Asturias.
A big breakfast buffet was waiting for me
But before I embarked on my guided tour, I had
a quick breakfast in my hotel which featured a large
buffet with different types of cheeses, smoked salmon,
cold cuts, freshly baked breads, fresh fruit juices
and a large assortment of sweets, croissants, muffins,
yoghurts and cereals. Then I headed out for a quick
walk through downtown on this gorgeous day.
Morning views of Oviedo
With less than an hour before my scheduled tour,
I walked through Oviedo’s downtown, through
its famous Campo de San Francisco Park and also
came across the Mercado del Fontán, the city’s
municipal market. Further west on the Calle del
Marqués de Santa Cruz I stopped to take photographs
of some beautiful early 20th century townhouses.
Adorned with plasterwork and multi-coloured detailing,
these urban row houses were built during a time
when Oviedo was experiencing a major industrial
and economic growth.
Beautiful early 20th century architecture in Oviedo
Now I had to hurry up and make my way back to the
hotel in order to meet my guide, Liliana Ausín.
Liliana is an expert tour guide with a great knowledge
of the entire province of Asturias. She is also
intricately involved with the Prince of Asturias
awards that are given to distinguished winners from
around the world in eight different categories,
which include arts, social sciences, literature,
sports and others.
Gorgeous church on the Plaza del Ayuntamiento
Liliana and I got into my car and started our driving
tour by heading north out of the downtown area towards
Mount Naranco. We crossed the busy Avenida del Cantábrico
and started to head up into the hills. After a short
drive we made our first stop at San Miguel de Lillo,
a small Pre-Romanesque church that was consecrated
in 848. Asturias is famous for its Pre-Romanesque
architecture that mostly includes sacral buildings
constructed between 711 and 910, the period of the
rise and later disappearance of the Kingdom of Asturias.
This simple small country church has been a UNESCO
World Heritage Site since 1985.
My expert guide Liliana in front of San Miguel del
Lillo
We started walking down the hill and admired the
gorgeous elevated view over Oviedo. Liliana explained
that the central mountainous area of this province
is called the Spine of Asturias. The hardest stage
of the Spanish cycling tour, the Vuelta Ciclista
de España, is located here. Liliana also
added that the road up the Naranco Mountain is a
popular walking route for retirees, which has earned
it the humorous nickname “the Cholesterol
Route”. From my brief experience on Naranco
Mountain, I certainly agreed that this would be
a beautiful area for walking and hiking.
A great view over Oviedo
About 100 metres away from San Miguel de Lillo
is the Church of Santa María del Naranco..
Formerly a royal palace constructed by King Ramiro
I. of Asturias, it was also completed in 848 AD.
During the 12th century it was converted from a
civil building into a church dedicated to the Virgin
Mary and is one of the most beautiful and best preserved
precursors of Romanesque architecture which emerged
in other areas about two centuries later.
Santa Maria del Naranco, a UNESCO World Heritage
Site
Santa María del Naranco is one of Oviedo’s
most famous sites and this morning there were already
several buses full of Spanish tourists here to admire
this outstanding example of Pre-Romaneseque art.
As is the case with its smaller neighbour, Santa
María del Naranco was also designated as
a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The triple-arch window
of this historic structure has become so iconic
that it was chosen as the tourism logo of Asturias.
Modern architecture by Santiago Calatrava
Back in town we stopped at the recently constructed
convention centre that was designed by famous Spanish
architect Santiago Calatrava. Liliana then directed
me to drive into downtown Oviedo and we parked the
vehicle in the underground garage next to the Teatro
Campoamor. We started strolling down the Calle del
Palacio Valdés and on one of the side streets
we stopped and admired a life-size bronze statue
of Woody Allen.
Woody Allen with Liliana, my guide
The famous American filmmaker had won the Prince
of Asturias Award in 2003 and fell in love with
Oviedo. He made a promise to one day come back and
shoot a film in Oviedo and did indeed return to
film parts of his 2008 romantic comedy Vicky Cristina
Barcelona here in Oviedo. The sculpture is indeed
life-like; unfortunately some avid souvenir collectors
had relieved Woody’s sculpture of his trademark
glasses.
The Cathedral of Oviedo
Our stroll then took us back southeast towards
Oviedo’s cathedral where celebrations were
starting for an important local festival: La Balesquida,
also referred to as Martes del Campo (Field Tuesday),
celebrates a wealthy 13th century lady of Oviedo,
Doña Velasquita Giráldez, who made
a large donation to the Tailors Guild to help the
poor. She also became the patron saint of the tailors.
This festival is always celebrated on the first
Tuesday after Pentecost and involves a procession
from the Balesquida Chapel to the Church of San
Tirso, followed by a meal of bollos preñaos
(literally translated “pregnant buns”
- Asturian paprika-flavoured sausage rolls) in the
Campo de San Francisco Park.
Some of the bands of La Balesquida
Multiple bands were getting ready for the procession
on the Cathedral Square: from the typical Asturian
bagpipers - part of the region’s Celtic heritage
- to traditional bands playing Spanish pasodoble
to Brazilian rhythm sections, dozens of musicians
were lined up to participate in the festivities.
We followed the bands to San Francisco Park where
it seemed the whole town was lined up to watch the
festivities. We also watched a round of bolos, the
Asturian version of bowling, where the balls are
aimed at a grouping of nine pins and tossed through
the air. The balls are tossed for quite some distance,
and the accuracy of these Asturian bowlers was amazing.
Bandstand in the Campo de San Francisco
Then Liliana took me back to the cathedral where
she explained that the current 14th century cathedral
was built on top of a Romanesque church from the
9th century. The cathedral only has one tower because
money ran out during construction. Across the cathedral
square is a sculpture called La Regenta, representing
the main character of a novel by famous writer Leopoldo
Alas “Clarín”, considered a masterpiece
of 19th century Spanish writing.
La Regenta
At the end of our tour of Oviedo Liliana took me
to a store called Camilo de Blas, the oldest pastry
shop in Oviedo. In continuous operation since 1914,
this shop sells a variety of Asturian sweets and
pastries. One of the most famous is the carbayon,
which means “Asturian oak tree”. The
recipe is typical of Oviedo and contains a mix of
egg, ground almonds, brandy or sweet wine and sugar,
covered in cinnamon-flavoured syrup.
Two "carbayones"
One of the scenes of Woody Allen’s movie
“Vickie Cristina Barcelona” was filmed
in this iconic store. With its historic store fixtures,
an old vintage cash register and its assortment
of sweets, liqueurs and wines, this traditional
store has been enchanting Oviedo’s taste buds
for almost 100 years.
Oviedo's famous store Camilo de Blas
After our extensive walking tour of Oviedo, I briefly
headed back to my hotel and was going to link up
with Liliana later in the afternoon when we were
going to reconnect for a tour
of Gijón, the largest city of Asturias.
