Oviedo – Mount Naranco

Mount Naranco is a hill that skirts Oviedo for about 5 km away. It lies behind the neighbourhood that got its name from it, the Ciudad Naranco. The reason for its importance is that this is where we live at the moment.

On the top of the hill there’s a huge sculpture, the Sacred Heart Jesus, that was erected in the 1950’s and opens his arms like symbolically embracing and protecting the city. We call it ‘The Chequered Jesus’ as the statue is made of big stones giving it a chequered appearance. The monument’s form can be spotted from many places in Oviedo and is one of the iconic parts of the city.

We, of course, wanted to climb it so on our second day in the city we were already planning a trip up. We lived in the centre then so it took us 40 minutes just to get to where we live at the moment then we just followed the road up.

There was a road for cars that was almost overtaken by hardcore cyclists, obviously a popular cycling route. Later I learnt that it’s because the top of Naranco is part of the Tour of Spain cyclist race.

Paul found a footpath that got narrower and narrower as we went but offered a great view over the city.

Soon it turned straight up and got steeper and steeper. The thin path was walled by spiky plants that scratched our legs. Suddenly I realised that I underestimated this hill and maybe wearing flip-flops and a mini denim skirt wasn’t such a great idea.

We soon spotted Jesus, though and finally arrived, sweating and out of breath realising that the place was full of well presented people who all came up by car. Oh, well.

We could see the whole city form there. Oviedo is really not a big place. From behind the statue we could even see Gijón and the sea. Or at least I think it was Gijón.

On the way down we took the road for the cars.

There are two Pre-Romanesque buildings next to the road up. One of them is the church of San Miguel the Lillo from the IX century.

The other one is the Saint Saviour Cathedral. 

Later during our stay we walked up again, this time it was already getting dark. The view was lovely over Oviedo by night.

The Crosses of Oviedo

Oviedo is a city that boasts not only one but two holy crosses. I was intrigued by their history and sure enough I found something interesting. When it comes to history in any part of Spain there is always a great juicy legend to learn about.

The Cross of the Angels

According to the legend, Kind Alfonso II decided to get a golden cross made. At that time there were no goldsmiths in the city so when he heard that two of them just happened to be passing through the city he gave them lots of gold and precious stones with the order to make the cross. In the next morning the goldsmiths disappeared…but left a cross so beautiful and so artfully made that it couldn´t had been made by human hands. It was decided that the two goldsmiths were in truth angels. On the back it says in Latin ‘With this sign our enemies will be defeated’. Later the King graciously offered the Cross to the city and today it can be senn in the Cámara Santa, or ‘Saint Chamber’ of the Cathedral of San Salvador.

The Cross has become the symbol of the city and it is included in the coat of arms. The two letters are the alpha and the omega as according to the Bible Jesus once said ‘I am the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega’. You see the Cross held by two angles depicted on walls, doors or churches all over the city.

The Cross of Victory

Just over a 1000 years ago the moors decided to conquer Spain and starting from the South slowly took over the country. We have already learnt about the hero, Hairy Willy in Catalonia who beat back the moors. In Asturias we find another hero, Don Pelayo. He was the one who, with the support of the Virgin Mary who breathed on him in a cave, managed to pushed back the Moorish army and therefore left Asturias unconquered. (For this the people here are immensely proud.) While going in the battle, he was holding a wooden cross in his hand. Yes, it’s exactly the same cross that later became known as the Cross of Victory. The above mentioned King Alfonso II seemed to get it, had it covered with gold and put a few precious stones here and there before his death offered it to the Cathedral.

It can be seen in the Cámara Santa, along with one shoe of St. Peter and other crosses in which are little hidden holes contain pieces from the cross of Jesus (yes, right here in Oviedo), a cloth that kept the blood and sweat of a saint (sorry I forgot which) and beautifully decorated chests that hide very important relics in the form of bones of many different saints. You can see all these only for three euros. Bargain.

For many centuries thousands of pilgrims travelled here to see these relics. For me it was more interesting to see the graffiti that these pilgrims left behind on the walls while waiting for their turn. Touching the outline of these carvings made me feel the age of these stones. It suddenly all made sense to visit the Chamber before my own pilgrimage to Santiago the next day.

Oviedo – The Church of San Juan el Real

This church is a magnificent building tucked away amongst the streets of Oviedo. It’s not on a prominent square and there are no signs to tell you where to find it. Usually I don’t blog about churches as I’m not religious although I still appreciate the art of the architecture or the decoration of the building. This church however holds a special interest for me: this is where Franco got married.

I am fascinated by the Spanish Civil War and Franco as his regime ended quite recently (he died in 1975) therefore people still remember everything of that era. In Barcelona you cannot avoid learning about it as the bombing of the city and the oppression of the Catalan culture and tradition is related to Franco’s name. Here in Asturias people see history from a different angle.

Carmen Polo, Franco’s wife grew up in Oviedo and his family was living on Calle Uría, where only the wealthiest merchants owned a house. The Church of San Juan el Real was Carmen’s family church, that’s why they had the marriage there.

The wedding became famous for being postponed as Franco got promoted and his ambition was too great to let this opportunity go. As he was the country’s most decorated soldier he got a 40 day long leave in October and a royal permission to marry. His best man was King Alfonso XIII. 

Well, let’s have a look at this church.

The church can be found on Calle Campoamor, 1.

Oviedo

Oviedo is the capital of province of Asturias with a population of just over 220 000. It’s lovely city that people easily fall in love with. It has spacious roads and many lovely little squares where you can take your pick of the many cafes to enjoy a cuppa from. There are lots of big and beautiful buildings that were built in the Belle Epoca or Beautiful Era. It’s a pleasure walking down its streets and to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere that is so evident here after Barcelona. It also has a Wine street and a Cider Boulevard and your biggest worry is mostly which one to go to before dinner. The city is full of great restaurants and apart from the usual but varied tapas menu you can find many typical Asturian meals that we have been dutifully sampling since our arrival. Before going into the juicy bits let’s have a look at the city itself.

Oviedo is impeccably clean. It is not then surprising that it won the cleanest city in Europe title in 11 consecutive years! They don’t even have rubbish containers on the street like in any other cities. Around 8-9pm trucks go around the whole town full of rubbish bins that are put out in front of the buildings and then later collected. This is the only time when you can take your rubbish down, including recycling.

Not having graffiti on the walls is another strange sight. This however is only true for the Old Town. As soon as you walk a bit further you can see many. This is my favourite. It means ‘only love can save us’.

Oviedo also has the title of ‘The town of statues’ as there’s over 100 statues on its squares! I love stumbling up on the once I haven’t seen before. They are all very nice but these are my favourites.

This one is at the bottom of the Cider Boulevard. I think the statue of the little girl watching her mother (whatever she’s doing) is very well expressed.

Asturias has its own type of wild horses. These little horses are called ‘asturcónes’ and can be seen in the hills. These iron ones are in front of the town’s biggest park and they are often seen with kids sitting on their backs shouting ‘giddy up!’ in Spanish and making horse sounds. Endless fun.

This is Paul’s favourite. It is what you see: a giant ass. It is even called like that, ‘culo’ in Spanish means ‘bottom’. It’s great fun seeing all the tourists sitting in front of it having their photos taken. Only a few bother to have a look at the actual name of the statue.

There´s even a statue of Woody Allen here, apparently he got a prize here. Lots of people know the name of Oviedo from his film, the Vicky Christina Barcelona.

Finally I mention another thing that I find really sweet here, the street names. Some of the streets are named after famous people just as everywhere else. Here, however, you are told the title of the famous person, just in case you’re not that well-educated to know.

There are many things in Oviedo that I absolutely adore or find it interesting. It is a small town but it’s full of character and we definitely think we made the right decision moving here.