Our original plan was to walk Camino Del Norte for 3 weeks and then in Oviedo switch to Camino Primitivo for the last 2 weeks. The Camino Primitivo has several long stretches with limited services. It also has a long stretch with a lot of elevation gain and no services. John has been having some issues with his hip and leg since we left Maine and it hasn’t really improved, so we made the decision to stay on the Camino Norte till Santiago as it seems to have a little more in terms of transportation if needed. We can return to do the Camino Primativo another time 😊. Also, we were enjoying our walk along the coast. There is also a cool monastery on the Norte we had heard about and wanted to check out. Since we had a nonrefundable reservation in Oviedo and we heard it was a really nice city, we decided to go for the night. We took a bus there from Villaviciosa and a train back to Avilés to resume our trek on the Norte.
Ovieda is a beautiful city – classy is how one native described it to us. It was very clean and organized with beautiful parks and tons of statues. Our pension, Pensión Oviedo, was right across from the train station on the end of the main Street heading toward the center of town and the cathedral. It was perfect for our needs. Oviedo is home to several pre Romanesque churches including the Camara Santa which is part of the Cathedral and home to many religious relics including the Holy Shroud, the cloth believed to be the one that covered the face of Jesus after his crucifixion. The Cathedral of San Salvador is also really old. It was founded in 781 AD. It is a large complex which includes a museum of religious artifacts dating back to the 8th century. Admission to the cathedral complex is 8 euros but because we were pilgrims and had our credential with all our stamps since we started in early April, we only had to pay 4 Euros. The tour thru the cathedral was really interesting and well with the admission.
Once we finished with the religious relics we decided to change things up a bit so we headed over to Calle Gascony, home to the famous cideries (sidrelia) and restaurants serving traditional Asturias foods. It is a fun place to people watch and also to watch the waiters pour cider from 4 feet above the glass without looking. The ciders are delicious and of course we stopped for a bottle and some traditional foods for dinner. We also talked with some women from Oviedo and a man and his son who were starting the Camino Primativo the next day. He heard us talking (and I’m sure recognized us as pilgrims from our hiking clothing) and asked us if they needed sleeping bags in the albergues. We talked for quite a while and I explained to them how they could get their credentials at the cathedral and to be sure they got a stamp from each place they stayed. I was happy to be able to give them information 😊. We saw them later that evening and they had picked up their credential and already had their first stamp. It is pretty easy to recognize pilgrims walking the Camino as we are always wearing hiking clothes, and at night are usually limping from blisters and sore feet and wearing sandals – usually with socks. 😀
Pouring cider to aerate it correctly
