Oviedo Spain, A Lot Too Love

After about 24 intensely variable and interesting hours in Oviedo I am giving it a strong thumbs up. The train ride north from Madrid was a bit delayed, but only 3.5 hours and no other incidents. The Spanish Renfe train system is a bit hard to judge because we have experienced only 2 of the 4 Renfe train types. Overall they feel more physically comfortable than what we experience in France.

Things got more interesting when we arrived in Oviedo and enlisted a taxi driver to take us to our Booking.com apartment. Booking.com supplies an address. All along I was suspicious of the address as it had no street number. Yet, each email interaction had the same info so I decided it was probably a northern Spain quirk. Not at all! I had emailed and called them when we arrived to let them know we were ready to be met at the property.  No Responses.

Our driver, also felt there should be a street number because our apartment was about half a city block long, but did her best to get us to where we should be. We still not heard from anyone about meeting us and did not know how or exactly where we could enter the building. Our driver turned into super woman and took over. She managed to find someone to talk to on the phone and find out exactly where we should be dropped off. She arranged a meetup time and gave me a number to text if anything went poorly. She literally spent an extra 15 minutes getting us taken care of after a 10 minute ride. Her meter remained off after the first ten minutes, even as she drove us around the big block again. For this she charged 6 euro 34.  And then was both surprised and grateful when I gave her a ten and said that the rest was a tip. This was a financial foreshadowing for what we experienced in this initial 24 hour period. Things are cheap in Oviedo.

Before I get to that though, we got into our apartment 30 minutes later only to realize I had made a monumental gaffe and booked this beautiful 3 bedroom 1.5 bath nicely equipped 80 meter square apartment that has no wifi! Crushing! Especially since my lovely T-Mobile account has failed to roam since about the third week in Europe. After initial panic some investigation showed I could spend time in the library and a coffee shop I like and take care of the blog and business, just not late at night (my preference).

It just so happened that today, Thursday, is a major market day in beautiful old town Oviedo. We had explored old town last night and been charmed. This morning we went back for coffee then the market. Bustling and energetic with very nice produce. Back to cheap. Last night two entrees and 2 full size glasses of wine was 24 euros. This morning our coffee and hot chocolate, the regular for us was, just over 5 euros and it was good. The market produce prices felt inexpensive also. When we went to the grocery store to get kitchen food basics and wine it was much cheaper than elsewhere in Europe to date. The differences were fairly significant, closer to Mexico prices than France and UK. That in itself was a pleasant surprise, but the bubbling energy of the city was the thing that made the biggest impression.

We are loving the buildings in town. Here is a short intro including the coolest mural yet. I guess it is a combination of aging and working with the natural aging. Three pictures here to show that the wall with the mural is actually having to be propped up.

Also, the stone they have to work with around here ages nicely in general if these pictures are an indication.

A final note, we came here to escape the heat. It is going to be a bit hotter than normal and that only means low 80’s. Today topped out at 73 degrees.