Oviedo Day One

 Monday August 10, 2026

What a wonderful bed!  Of course after all those hours without sleeping, I'm probably not a good judge! Then, at 7:44, the yard guy began mowing and and edging and weedwacking and blowing.  Good thing I was nearly awake anyway!  Time for yoga and a shower and a trip to the kitchen to see who's around.  Jenny has made coffee and is slicing avocados from one of their trees and Ginger is organizing a cup of tea, so I fit right in - I've brought my coffee because, well, decaf and I know where everything is that I need.  Mmmm!  Avocado toast on yummy bakery bread with real avocados, not the watery ones we get at home - delicious! Oh!  And when I woke up it was sixty degrees outside! :)

View from one of my bedroom windows

Boots has found a willing lap!

Jenny likes her new top!

Stu and Amanda are the next to appear and finally Ole shows up.  And then it's time to walk to the bus stop and catch the bus into town!

It's a lovely walk to the bus stop.

Jenny's plant store at the bottom of the hill.  She can't buy much at a time because it's
a long walk uphill to get home.

We all get seats on the bus, mostly because this is the first stop going back into town! The fare for us on one Euro twenty and only forty cents for the locals.  Many people have transit cards and everyone gets a receipt.  It's only about a fifteen minute ride to our stop downtown and we are right by the park, so we start our wander there.

One of the many statues in the city.  This one is Motherhood.

Pigeon doing his flamingo impersonation

                                                                Jenny's art supplies store

                             I'm so in love with the architecture!  Lots of photos will be forthcoming!

                                                                        This one's for Connie!

                               The Reader is a tribute to Oviedo's love of learning and education.

                                             So much public art and no signs saying "Stay off!"

                                          It's about noon and time for a coffee and snacks!

 We stop at one of their favorite bakeries and the choices are so endless that we mostly just turn her loose, except for Stu who has his eye on a sandwich to go with all the sweets.  In fairness the rest of us had avocado toast with our morning coffee or tea, except for Ole who doesn't eat before three in the afternoon as a rule!

                                                                See?  How could you choose?

Ole has left us to go home to work and Jenny is in charge of our wandering! 

                                                    The cathedral is the heart of the city.

                                          There are almost as many ice cream shops as bakeries!

We all love the the tea store!! The couple is so adorable, the wife is bouncy and personality plus and her husband is equally charming but much quieter.  I think she remembered me from last time because I got a big hug! (I had taken a really cute photo of the two of them and Jenny sent it to them.) Or she's just that effusive, because Ginger got one, too!  At any rate we both smelled several teas and bought three each!  And I got a couple of Christmas presents, too, so I got another little bag of chocolate orange tea as a present!  The first three were cappucino, choco-chai and another chocolate one!

                                                                            So many choices!

                                                       The next con that's coming to Oviedo

           And there's a little market in the square and Ginger and I both find a shirt that we can't leave!

                                           Details in the statue of the milk maid and her donkey

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                                                One of Stu's two favorite foods here in Oviedo!

It's 2:45 and time to stop for another snack!  We sit outside because the weather is gorgeous as long as you're out of the sun.  And the tables have umbrellas! Jenny and I have moscato and Ginger has a beer.  Stu and Amanda do the virtuous thing and have water!

                                                                     Fries with truffles

               Delicious guac with bacon, onions, and tomatoes and fries with pulled port, also delicious!

                                                         Croquetas with yummy fillings!

                                           Ginger took this cute shot of Amanda and Stu!

                                               Looking at ruins through a hole in the screening

All the shops down this street are related to sidra - selling or distilling - and there is a festival here every year.  So far I've missed it, but I have hopes!

                             Oh look!  Another bakery!  But we're just buying things to take home!

Don Pelayo or Pelagius of Asturias who defeated the Moors and kept them from advancing into the mountains of northern Spain.

The Camino de Santiago begins in Oviedo and in the city you can spot the seashells in the sidewalk marking the route.

                                                Cool colors!  I think it's mold but it looks neat!

                                                         Those colors are all mosaic tiles!

Aside - When we entered the country nobody stamped our passports!  Boo!!

We took the bus home for some down time before we go out again for dinner after Ole gets off work.  The restaurant overlooks the cathedral and the kids say the food is very good in addition to being a tourist spot!

It's time to leave for dinner but Ole has an important project to finish, so he'll meet us at the restaurant.  We're walking to the closest bus stop and have plenty of time for the 8:45 bus.  We get to the stop at 8:40 and watch him pull away!  Never fear, Jenny knows all the bus stuff and she leads us further on to the stop for the J bus and we only wait five or ten minutes for it to come and whisk us away downtown. There's a pleasant walk to the cathedral and Jenny goes into the Taberna de la Catedral to secure our outdoor table.

                           Elderberries!  We also passed - and picked and ate - yummy blackberries!

And before we're even seated Ole arrives!  He's parked in the nearby underground parking lot and will take all but two of us home.  The other two will take a cab and we're surprised when we get home to find that they beat us!

Now to remember dinner after two bottle of wine!  Let's see...we started with cheese plate and moved on to so many dishes!  We all like everything, so it's easy to just treat it as tapas and share everything! There had been talk of dessert when we first sat down, but by the time we'd cleaned all the platters, that thought went out the window!  It's just time to go home.  Jenny and Amanda take a cab and Ole goes downstairs to fetch the car for the rest of us.  As we're waiting we watch a young female driver try FOUR times to make it up the exit ramp.  She finally gives up and gets out of the car, trading places with an older man (maybe dad?) in great disgust.  Poor thing!  

                                                             Spectacular cheese platter!

                                                Croquettes filled with creamy mushroom stuff!

                                                                         Rice with beef

                                                                         Cocholo and fries

                                                       Beef stew made with beef shoulder

                     This is the entrance to the parking garage!  Looks like the Parisian Metro!

Ole arrives and even he squeals coming up the ramp!  He says his car did that all by itself!

When we get home it's just about bed time for me!  I stay up a bit to mix and mingle with the kids; but then I give up and crash!!