Candás & Oviedo, Asturias, North West Spain

A bit of a slow start today. Too many beers yesterday! Eventually we move ourselves and get ready to meet our friends for a trip to Oviedo. We’re taking the train from Perlora station a 10 minute walk from the campsite. There’s obviously a problem as the train is very late and once it turns up the driver has driven for more than five hours so she needs a replacement! They send another train through to our station plus a replacement driver for her train arrives in a taxi about the same time. It’s an old fashioned single track system as the train leaving the station has to wait for the arrival of one coming in the opposite direction. We transfer from line C3 at Veriña, a station that has definitely seen better days with a hulking rusting iron bridge and walkway to cross to the C1 line for Oviedo. A forty five minute journey that takes two hours! Luckily we aren’t in a hurry.

Oviedo is lovely with huge ornate lamps along tree lined streets and gorgeous buildings. We hit San Francisco park almost immediately, an oasis in the city with ancient soaring trees of many varieties. It was originally the orchard of the Convent of San Francisco. There are sculptures and a towering bandstand plus a lovely cafe where we enjoy a drink and a nibble.

Wandering on we come across the university library that has a few students beavering away in a book lined room with rows of antique desks each with their own lamp. No photos allowed.

The medieval old town has beautiful marbled pavements underfoot as we head towards Plaza de Alfonso Il de Casto to visit the gothic San Salvador Cathedral.

After a beer on Calle Gascony, aka cider street we march back to the station to catch the train back to Candás. No delays this time. We go straight out for a drink and then find the number one restaurant on Trip Advisor Sidrería Restaurante Santarua, a seafood restaurant where we order and eat far too much food including a plate of huge prawns and a massive plate of fresh tuna steaks. Manage a final beer on the way back with free ham and cheese tapas that we definitely don’t need!