Oviedo, Spain Day 1
This Fall I hiked into Oviedo and decided to stay an extra night in the center. I was a few days into a personal portion of the Camino de Santiago. The morning we spent walking into the city, my companions kept talking it up. “It has everything you could need for the rest of your hike” “If you are missing supplies, this is the place to get them” These sentiments meshed with the other praise I had heard about Oviedo and my image of our destination took on a rosy and holy glow. Surely it would be beautiful, an amazing distraction from the pain of the hike with balms to cure all woes.
Reality is a buzz-kill. My first impression of the city outskirts was an ugly highway and miles of unpleasant hiking sights. We entered the city center with the assumption that it would be easy to find a tourist office to orient ourselves to our temporary home. Our lack of preparation left us wandering up and down steep confusing sidewalks that seemed to spawn without logic from a non-existant center. But after a gruff introduction, Oviedo would win me over. As I started to feel the pulse of the city, I saw the life in its streets and its clever charm.
I said my goodbyes to my days’ companions and went off in search of a hotel. When I enter a city on the Camino, it’s a big win if I can drop my bag at my hostel or hotel early in the afternoon. That leaves time to enjoy the sights and eat in peace before the preparation for the morning departure. And this time I had the double luxury of planning to stay two nights. The world was my oyster.
There was a cute tourist train near the place I left my companions and I was a bit shocked to find out it was free and ready for passengers. I hopped on sweaty and smelly, happy to rest my legs while a machine showed me the sights of center city. I saw a park, some shops, and some restaurants before we pulled back into the open square in the shadow of the cathedral. I called a couple of hotels to find a safe place for the night and used google maps to locate one that seemed like a win.
I checked into one of the fancier hotels of my hike before dinner - The IBERIK Santo Domingo Plaza Hotel. I felt out of place at the checkout desk and feared they would change their mind when they saw my sweaty stubble and sniffed my sweaty torso. It seems though, that the tourist industry in Spain is happy to cater to smelly pilgrims. A room rental is a room rental. I dropped my bag in my room in a bit of a weary daze, but quickly took off for the streets to explore my 2 day home.
One of the first things that swayed my perception of the city was a parir of knock-off crocs. I had been hoping and hoping to find shower shoes - more or less an essential for this type of journey - and I found the perfect pair in a dollar store. Heart smiling, I devoured a couple of 2 Euro sandwiches under the awning of a grocery store to avoid a brief deluge of rain. I popped open my umbrella and stumbled upon the Museo de Bellas Artes de Asturias. With a mind to avoid the rain, I asked the price of entry and found out it was free. On a non-stop win streak I explored the abundant, impressive works of art in the center of Oviedo. When the rain died down I walked back to my luscious hotel room, feeling like a spoiled guest in a home he had never known.
