Spain – Asturias – Gijón (En)
We arrived in Gijón last Wednesday and went to a free motorhome area but it was packed so we moved to another one next to San Lorenzo beach and the city centre. The site is pretty good for its location, without services and 6 euros per day but it is worthy and the baker passes every morning. Our friends Bea and Javi told us what to see in the city, including the two more famous shops, La Camisete (where they sell typical Asturian t-shirts) and a shop selling all the specific Asturian products (cheese, cider, etc).
Gijón is a large city on the coast, known for its maritime heritage. Cimavilla is the old town of Gijon and was historically home to most of Gijon’s fishermen. One of the nicest things to do in Cimavilla is to head to the top of the hill and walk around the Batería Alta de Santa Catalina. It is an unfinished battery, begun in 1902 to defend the bay and has excellent views. Monuments to visit are the Elogio del Horizonte (In Praise of the Horizon) created by Basque artist Eduardo Chillida in 1990. The Tree of Cider promotes recycling, composed of thousands of bottles of cider. San Pedro apóstol church is located at the foot of Cimavilla and holds quite a commanding presence, The Clock Tower, Jovellanos natal house, and much more.
On the harbour were a lot of stands with the typical products and the Tree of Cider. This weekend is the Cider festival so it was many squares with stages for bands and a great ambience.
We went to have lunch at a typical cider bar in the old town and we had the menu of the day. We shared the starters and seconds, salad and the famous bean plate (fabada) and cachopo (the beef fillet filled with ham and cheese) and Iberian secreto. All really good and in normal portions! By the way, the waiter was English from London, so Ben did not have any problem in talking to him!
The rest of the day and the next day we were at the beach because it was only 24 degrees and cloudy but it was really humid, like a sauna, and the sea water was lovely but we were swimming again in a place that we couldn’t and the lifeguard came to tell us to go out and move to another side of the beach to swim!
And today Friday we are in a small fish beautiful town called Cudillero to eat seafood, and you can see it in the next post.
