Oviedo's old town can be covered on foot in a morning: the Fontán square with its market, Gascona street — the one they call the cider boulevard —, the houses with glassed-in balconies, and the cathedral closing the whole. It is the easiest plan from the house, and the one that best survives a rainy day.
The centre is pedestrianised and small: everything is close together. You go from the market to the cathedral through narrow streets and squares, and on the way you come across the medieval fountain of Foncalada — a World Heritage site — almost by accident.
The best ending is Gascona: cider houses one after another, one culín in each, which is the custom.
A little history
Oviedo was born in the year 761, when a group of monks founded a church on a hill called Ovetao; a few years later Alfonso II made it the capital of the Kingdom of Asturias and the starting point of the first pilgrimage to Santiago. The old town preserves the medieval street plan around the cathedral and the market squares.
- From the house
- 10 min by car
- Duration
- 3 hr
Getting there
Without a car
Local train from Colloto to Oviedo, and the whole old town on foot from the station.
By car
Underground car parks in the centre; the old town itself is pedestrian.
Before you go
- The arcades around the Fontán and the narrow streets cover much of the walk: it still works in the rain.
- The Fontán market has a flea market on Sunday mornings.
- On Gascona the cider houses run one after another: you drink a culín — a finger of cider, downed in one — in each and move on. That is the custom.
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