Ayre Hotel Ramiro I

Real Oviedo

by bonio

A wet Sunday evening was the perfect excuse for me to walk the 10 minutes to Estadio Carlos Tartiere, home of Real Oviedo. A 1-0 victory over Zalla in Liga 2b was entertaining too, even Mrs Bonio didn't complain too much!

OVIEDO (1)

by AsturArcadia

Let us begin where we should arrive. The joint RENFE/FEVE station, at the upper end of the calle Uría, generally regarded as the city's main shopping street (for fashion clothes mainly, nowadays). If you are exploring Asturias by car, give the beast a rest for the day (it probably deserves it), and use the frequent local train services. The main building was radically reformed after the Civil War, and again in the late 1990s when the FEVE network was reshaped and the latter's Económicos and Jovellanos termini were closed. In the background is the AC hotel; there's a Tryp beyond it, and beyond that the bus station, built at the turn of the millennium and notorious for its leaky roof. The station roof (the part dating from the late 1990s) leaks too in heavy rain. As do the roofs of some of RENFE's older electric trains! Only stay at the two above-mentioned hostelries if you want a phone in every part of your accommodation. There are plenty of cheaper establishments, far more fun, too, out in the country!

In a later photo we see the sad demolition of the old Vasco-Asturiano terminus in Oviedo, Jovellanos, in the late 1980s. The station was famous for its ceramic advertisements, dating from the first three decades of the 20th century. Some of these were carefully removed from the walls behind the platforms, and a few years ago were reassembled on panels on the FEVE side of the Estación del Norte. Here is a selection of some of my favourites . . .

The sad remains of the Acueducto de Fitoria, a 41-arch structure built between 1570 and 1602 to convey water to the city from springs on Monte Naranco. It was 390 metres long and 10 metres high, and had a capacity of 750,000 litres of water per day. It was demolished in 1915 on the orders of the mayor, to make room for widening of the calle de Cervantes; five arches were left for posterity. Sandwiched between blocks of flats, the remains are not easy to photograph.

Among the modern blocks of flats one can still come across the occasional architectural gem, such as this small 'palacio'.

Note the crane in the background. No photo of an urban area in Spain would really be complete without one.